The Weasley Twins and the Heir of Slytherin
by phantomduck
Summary: Fred and George are back for their fourth year, but any hopes of a nice quiet school year are quickly thrown into disarray as someone, or something starts attacking the students. (4th Story in a Series)
1. Chapter 1

"This way," shouted Miro Franca as he vaulted over a set of wooden barrels, which came up to just past his waist.

"Stay with him," barked a voice from behind him. "I'll cut him off."

Miro didn't reply, instead pushing forward in his pursuit. He quickly sidestepped an old witch who had been trying to make her way down the narrow street with her shopping.

"Watch out!" she scolded him, as she flattened herself against the wall, sending a few items falling out of her bag and scattering onto the ground.

"Sorry," shouted Miro over his shoulder **,** but the woman was too busy picking up her things to hear him.

The street turned to the right and Miro had to throw a hand out to prevent himself from smashing into a stone wall as he quickly made the turn. This section of the road was bigger but also more crowded **,** with a number of market stalls laid out selling various wares to interested and intrigued customers.

He had to hurry. This street would lead out into Diagon Alley, and if his prey made it that far then he knew he would never have a chance of catching it before it disappeared amongst the bustling crowds. Two weeks of hard work and careful tracking would be for nothing and, more importantly, there would be no payment.

"Out the way," he ordered, racing over the cobbled stones as fast as he dared on the uneven surface.

Most people looked up and moved to one side, while some of the market stall owners shouted at him for disrupting their business. Unfortunately, one wizard either did not hear him or, if he did, did not care and continued to examine whatever trinket had caught his eye. As Miro reached him, and aimed to go through the gap behind him, the man stood up and took a step backward. Miro managed to dodge to the right to avoid the man but this meant he was unable to avoid the pile of discarded rubbish from the various stalls. He attempted to hurdle the first pile but the tip of his back foot struck something which threw him off balance. He almost got his footing but by then he was already tripping over the second pile,which sent him sprawling into the third. He looked up from the ground and swore under his breath as he saw his target getting away.

Suddenly there was a red flash of magic and Mr Lexington, Miro's former Auror Instructor and current business partner, stepped out of a side street. He bent down to pick something up before turning to look at Miro.

"Got him," said Lexington, approaching as Miro managed to disentangle himself from the rubbish. In his arms the older man held a small furry creature, about the size of a cat, which had six legs, two curly tails, and a short squat monkey-like face. "Mrs Banjo will be pleased."

"You know," said Miro, dusting himself off as best as he could, "when I signed up for this I thought I'd be chasing things through back-alleys but I always thought they would be Dark Wizards and not..." he waved his hand at the creature.

"It's a Schniblean," said Lexington, holding up the creature so the younger wizard could get a better view. "I thought you said you took Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts?"

"I did," said Miro, trying to massage some life back into his right shoulder. "I didn't say I was any good at it."

"Anyway, early days Mr Franca, early days. Soon word will get out about our business and we'll be knee-deep in interesting cases. Until then, we need to keep the lights on, and that means taking cases like tracking down Mr Snuffles here," said Mr Lexington, waving the Schniblean in question.

"It's not dead, is it?" said Miro, looking at the animal with uncertainty.

"No, just unconscious," said Lexington. He nodded his head towards Diagon Alley and threw an arm over Miro's shoulder. "Come on, let's let Mrs Banjo know we found her pet and collect payment. I think today is going to be a good day."

 _This has got to be the dumbest thing anyone I know has done today_ thought Miro to himself.

* * *

"I don't think we should be doing this," said Ron. He was sat in the front seat of their family's blue Ford Anglia, while Fred and George were at the back of the vehicle pushing it along.

"Why not?" George asked, a little out of breath. "It was your idea."

"How was this my idea?" complained Ron, he turned around in the seat and stuck his head out of the open window to answer his brother.

"Remember? You were going on and on about how you had written all those letters to Harry inviting him to come and stay and you didn't even get one reply," said George. He turned around and put his back against the boot of the car to continue pushing.

"And then dad came home tonight and said Harry had got an official warning from the Ministry," added Fred, still pushing with his hands.

"And so you said 'we should do something'," George stopped and waved a hand at the car. "This is 'something'. And face the front will you? Last thing we need is you putting it in the ditch."

"I meant we should have asked mum, or dad, or I dunno... Uncle Enoch, to check in on Harry. Not steal..."

"Ah, ah, ah," said Fred, holding up a finger.

"Sorry... 'borrow'... the family car," said Ron, correcting himself. He used the rear-view mirror to look at his brothers. "And why aren't we driving this thing? You aren't planning on pushing it all the way to Surrey are you? That'll take forever."

"We're just pushing it down the drive so we don't wake anyone up when we start it. Thought that was obvious," explained Fred. He looked over his shoulder back at The Burrow to gauge the distance. "Actually, that's probably far enough."

"Do you even know how to drive?" said Ron, as he was shooed into the back by his brothers who climbed into the front seats.

"Of course," said Fred, adjusting the driver's seat to a more comfortable position. "More or less."

Fred turned the key and the engine eventually spluttered into life. He put it into first gear and after a few moments of uncertainty the car bunny-hopped forward before gradually finding a constant speed.

"See?" said Fred, looking smug. There was a sharp grinding sound as he tried to find second gear, failed spectacularly, and settled for third instead.

"Oh you're a natural," said George, rolling his eyes as the car stalled and the engine cut out.

"You think you can do better?"

"I think _Ron_ can do better, I can do best... bestest... betterer. Whatever. I can do it."

"Fine."

There were a few grunts and complaints as the two boys switched places in the car, with one climbing over the other rather than just getting out and walking around the vehicle.

"Careful will you?" said Fred, as he finally settled into the front passenger seat. He looked over at his brother who was now studying the dashboard. "Anytime now."

"Shh, I'm trying to remember what dad showed me," said George, waving a hand at his brother. After a few moments of preparation he turned the key and the car lurched forward. As they trundled down the long driveway that would lead to the public road, George turned to his brother with a smirk on his face. "Ha! Told you. Bestester."

"Idiots," said Ron from the backseat. "Here's a thought..."

"Careful, you might want to hang onto that," said George, looking at his brother in the rear-view mirror.

"Yeah, you never know when you'll get another. Probably best to save it for when you need it," added Fred.

"You mean… say… when we actually need to work out how we're getting to Little Whinging?" stated Ron.

"Er... by car," said George, waving his hand around to indicate the vehicle inside of which they were currently travelling.

"You really aren't the best in the middle of the night are you?" said Fred, shaking his head.

"To be fair he's not the best during the middle of the day," conceded George.

"Thanks George," muttered Ron.

"Or at the end of the day," added George. "And you're terrible in the mornings too."

"What I meant," said Ron, ignoring the urge to smack his brother on the back of the head, "how do we know we're going in the right direction?"

"Easy," said George, tapping one of the dials on the dashboard, "this is a compass; we need to head east...ish for a bit anyway."

"East... ish?" said Ron, shaking his head. He let out a long sigh. "Maybe I should have gone to Percy with this."

"Hey," said George, looking hurt. "Could Percy do this?"

George pushed a button down on the dashboard and pulled back slightly on the steering wheel. Ron grabbed hold of his seat as the car lifted from the ground and started flying.

"I knew this was a bad idea," said Ron, turning slightly pale. He reached over his shoulder for the seatbelt and made sure it was firmly secured in place.

"Relax," said George, leaning back in his seat. "Nothing for us to hit up here, well, maybe a few birds but they'll probably avoid us. Plus, cos we're flying we can go in a straight line. It'll save us loads of time."

"It won't if we don't actually know where we are going," said Ron.

"We're going..."

"Eastish, yes I know," mumbled Ron.

"We're going in the right direction," said Fred. He was looking out the window using a telescope. He folded it away and turned to look at his younger brother. "It has a Cat's-Eye Charm on it, so I can see perfectly in the dark. The sign there says we're heading towards Exeter. That's the right way."

"And after that?" asked Ron.

"Here, you check," said Fred, digging his hand into a large bag in the foot-well of the passenger seat and pulling out a large folded map. He handed it to his brother who unfolded it in the back of the car.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" complained Ron, scanning his eyes over the page. There were two large red circles drawn on the paper. Looking close at one he realised it was around the Ottery St Catchpole, so he presumed that the other would indicated where Harry lived.

"Just look at the names of the major towns on the way towards Harry, we'll keep low enough to read any signposts along the way," explained George. He jabbed a hand down onto one of the buttons. "That reminds me. Better put the Invisibility Booster on."

Although flying was much faster than if they had used the roads it still took them nearly two hours to reach Privet Drive. Fred and George had swapped places a number of times during the journey to give each other a rest, much to the annoyance of Ron, who panicked each time the steering wheel had been left unattended.

"Which one is it?" asked George, as they flew into the estate. "They all look the same."

"Number four," said Ron, looking out of the window to try and see the numbers on the houses. "We'll have to sneak in through the front door. His room is under the stairs."

"I think they might have moved him," said Fred, pointing towards the correct house. One of the windows on the first floor had iron bars attached to the outside. "You said Harry's uncle wasn't nice, so I'm guessing that'll be his room."

"Get closer," said Ron, winding down the window of the car and leaning out. He peered inside the house for a few moments. "Yeah, that's Harry all right." He rattled on the bars for a few seconds before his friend woke and looked outside.

"Ron!" said Harry, pushing the window up so they could talk through the bars. "Ron, how did you... what the...?"

"All right Harry," said George, grinning as Harry stared open mouthed at the flying car. He turned back to his twin. "Can you hold it steady? Last thing we need is to crash into the side of the house."

"I'm doing my best," complained Fred. He gestured towards the steering wheel in annoyance as Ron continued to chat away with his school friend.

"But you can't magic me out either..." Harry said to Ron.

"We don't need to," said Ron, indicating his brothers. "You forget who I've got with me."

"Tie that round the bars," said George, who had taken a large rope from the bag and thrown the end to Harry.

"If the Dursleys wake up, I'm dead," said Harry, as he tied the rope tightly around a bar and Fred revved up the car.

"Don't worry, stand back," said Fred.

Fred revved the car louder and louder until suddenly, with a crunching noise, the bars were pulled clean out of the window as Fred drove straight up. Ron quickly pulled the bars up by the rope into the car, before Fred moved the car back into position.

"Get in," Ron said.

"But all my Hogwarts stuff... my wand... my broomstick..."

"Where is it?"

"Locked in the cupboard under the stairs, and I can't get out of this room..."

"No problem," said George. "Out of the way Harry."

Fred pulled up the handbrake to keep the car steady and the pair climbed out of the car and through the window into Harry's room. George took out a hairpin from his pocket and set to work picking the lock.

"A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing this sort of muggle trick," said Fred, "but we feel they're skills worth learning, even if they are a bit slow."

There was a small click and the doors swung open.

"So, we'll get your trunk, and you grab anything you need from your room and hand it to Ron," whispered George.

"Watch out for the bottom stair, it creaks," Harry whispered from behind them as the twins made their way out of the room.

"Should be easy enough," said George, keeping his voice low as the twins made their way down the stairs, making sure to avoid the last step. Fred took his turn picking the lock on the door under the stairs. It opened with a faint 'snick' and they carefully took out Harry's possessions trying their best to remain as quiet as possible.

"They made him sleep in here?" muttered Fred, looking around the small space that would have barely been able to fit anyone comfortably. "I wouldn't even do that to Percy."

"Really?" said George, as he opened the trunk and placed Harry's wand inside next to his previous year's school books. He tucked Harry's broom under his arm.

"Well maybe only if he was being a completely insufferable git," conceded Fred as the pair hoisted the trunk and made their way back up the stairs. Harry had come out of his room the help them and the three boys carried the heavy luggage to the window. Fred climbed back into the car to help Ron pull the trunk inside while George and Harry pushed it from the bedroom side. Eventually it slid into place.

"Okay, let's go," said George, handing Ron the broom, and climbing out the window into the car. Just as Harry was about to traverse the gap there came a sudden loud screech from behind him, immediately followed by a thunderous voice.

"THAT RUDDY OWL!"

"I've forgotten Hedwig," exclaimed Harry. He rushed back into the room and grabbed the birdcage while Fred and George quickly clambered into the front. Harry passed Hedwig to Ron and began to climb through the window.

There was a loud crash as a rotund, red-faced man, who Fred and George assumed was Harry's uncle, barrelled into the room. The man paused for a second as he took in the whole scene before lunging towards the window and grabbing at Harry's ankle.

Ron, Fred and George seized Harry's arms and pulled as hard as they could. They gave a gigantic tug and Harry's leg slid out of his uncle's grasp.

"Put your foot down, Fred!" yelled Ron. His brother complied with the order and the car shot forward and upward.

"See you next summer," Harry yelled from the back seat as the Weasleys began to laugh.

The foursome continued on their journey whilst Hedwig flew beside the car. Harry brought the other three up to speed on what had happened to him over the summer. The reason he hadn't replied to any of Ron's letters was that a House-Elf named Dobby had been intercepting them in an attempt to discourage Harry from returning to Hogwarts for his second year. The House-Elf actions had also been responsible for the warning from the Ministry.

The group talked about a bunch of different subjects whilst journeying back to the Burrow and by the time the house came into view the sun was already starting to peak over the horizon.

"Touchdown!" said Fred as, with a slight bump, they hit the ground. They had landed next to the tumbledown garage in the yard. He looked in the rear-view mirror and saw Harry looking at their house.

"It's not much," said Ron softly.

"It's brilliant," exclaimed Harry, causing Ron to grin.

They got out of the car and gathered around the driver's side to discuss their next move.

"Now, we'll go upstairs really quietly," said Fred, "and wait for Mum to call us for breakfast. Then Ron, you come bounding downstairs going, 'Mum, look who turned up in the night!' and she'll be all pleased to see Harry and no one need ever know we flew the car."

"Right," said Ron. "Come on Harry, I sleep at the..."

Ron had gone a nasty greenish colour, his eyes fixed on the house. The other three wheeled around.

Mrs Weasley was marching across the yard with a furious look on her face, scattering chickens in her wake.

"Ah," said Fred.

"Oh dear," said George.

What happened next was an intense wall of shouting, finger pointing, and general admonishing. Fred and George kept their heads down, looking at their shoes while they waited for their mum to finish. Eventually, just as she managed to shout herself hoarse, Mrs Weasley turned to the only non-family member in the group.

"I've very pleased to see you, Harry, dear," she said sweetly as though the previous few seconds hadn't happened at all. "Come in and have some breakfast."

The four boys followed Mrs Weasley inside where she began cooking breakfast, all the while throwing her sons dirty looks and muttering under her breath.

"I don't blame you, dear," said Mrs Weasley to Harry as she piled food onto his plate.

Fred and George held out their plates, whereas Harry received about nine sausages and three fried eggs, they only got one of each item. Neither of them thought it would have been wise to point this out.

"...flying an illegal car halfway across the country... anyone could have seen you..." said Mrs Weasley who had continued her complaining without pause.

"It was cloudy, Mum!" said Fred. He knew his father hadn't told her about the Invisibility Booster that had been place in the car and he wasn't going to be the one to tell her.

"You keep your mouth closed while you're eating!" Mrs Weasley snapped, pointing a spatula towards him.

"They were starving him, Mum!" said George.

"And you!" barked Mrs Weasley.

Aside from a slight interruption from the youngest member of the Weasley family, and the only sister, Ginny arriving then quickly running away at the sight of Harry, the boys ate in silence until they were finished. Despite them being exhausted Mrs Weasley refused to let the boys head upstairs for a nap and instead ushered them outside to de-gnome the garden. Although told he didn't have to Harry willingly volunteered to help them. Ron explained to Harry just what was needed when de-gnoming a garden, spinning one around by its ankles until he launched it over a nearby hedge. Soon all the boys were at it, seeing who could get the creatures to fly the furthest until there were no longer any gnomes left in the garden.

It wasn't long before Mr Weasley arrived home from work after a long night in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, which of course meant it was now his turn to reprimand the boys for their actions.

"That was very wrong boys, very wrong indeed..." Mr Weasley pushed himself up out of his chair and headed towards the door. "Come with me."

"How did Ron get out of this?" complained Fred quietly. His younger brother had sneaked away to show Harry the rest of the house.

"I know, it was practically his whole idea," added George as the boys followed their father outside and over to where the car was parked. Mrs Weasley watched them through the window over the kitchen sink.

"Now boys," said Mr Weasley, waving his arms around in an exaggerated manner. "How did she fly? Was it smooth?"

"What?" asked Fred, frowning a little before grinning.

"No! Don't smile," said Mr Weasley quickly. He wagged his finger, before throwing his arms up in the air. "Look sad, like I'm shouting at you."

"But you're not," said George.

"I know I'm not, you know I'm not, but your mum thinks I am. So play along," ordered Mr Weasley, he added a shaking fist at the end for good measure.

"Oh, I get it," said George. He nodded his head sheepishly before elbowing brother to do the same.

"Oh right," said Fred, putting a solemn expression on his face and looking at the floor.

"Good," said Mr Weasley, jabbing a finger towards the boys several times before stamping his foot. "Now how was the landing? I always find it a little bumpy."

* * *

"Mum?" said Ginny, peering around the corner of the stairs.

"Yes, dear?" said Mrs Weasley, still watching her husband through the window.

"You could have told me Harry Potter was coming over," she said, quickly descending the stairs. "How do I look? I got changed."

"You look just lovely, dear," said Mrs Weasley, giving her daughter a cursory look before returning her gaze to the yard.

"What's dad doing?" said Ginny, looking out the window to where she could see her father practically jumping up and down whilst waving his arms. Then she noticed that Fred and George were both outside as well so she assumed he was shouting at them for one of many possible reasons. "Wow, he's really angry."

"No, he isn't," sighed Mrs Weasley, with a slight smile on her face.

"Are you sure about that?" said Ginny, pointing out of the window. "Because he looks like he's angry."

"Remember Great Aunt Magella?"

"Yeah, you used to visit her all the time before she died," said Ginny, nodding her head. "She always spoke like she was whispering. I could never hear what she was saying."

"Exactly," nodded Mrs Weasley. "Over the years, she got quieter and quieter, so very gradually after a while I learnt how to read lips. So I know exactly what your father is saying."

"Straight off to bed," ordered Mr Weasley as Fred and George trundled through the kitchen with their shoulders slumped and their heads bowed low. He turned to look at his wife and rubbed his hands together at a job well done. "Don't worry, dear. I was very tough on them. Very tough indeed."

"Here, Ginny," said Mrs Weasley, handing her daughter a plate of food. "Why don't you go and eat this in the sitting room? I just need to have a word with your father."


	2. Chapter 2

It didn't take long for Harry to be assimilated into the Weasley household. Mrs Weasley fussed over him, Mr Weasley peppered him with questions about muggles, Ginny blushed whenever he was around, and Ron spent most of the time joined to him at the hip since it seemed to make Fred and George less likely to make him the butt of one of their pranks. The only person to whom it made no real difference was Percy, who spent most of the summer hidden away in his room writing Godric knows how many letters.

After a week or so in the Burrow the family received their letters from Hogwarts **;** even Harry's was delivered along with the rest. The letters had the usual information and an updated required book list. Each of the lists required a complete collection of books by Gilderoy Lockhart, a wizard of whom Mrs Weasley was particularly fond. There was only one place to get everything which was why the family found themselves standing in front of their fireplace explaining to Harry how to use the Floo Network to get to Diagon Alley.

"He'll be all right, Mum," said Fred. "Harry, watch us first."

He took a pinch of glittering powder out of a flowerpot, stepped up to the fire and threw the powder into the flames.

With a roar, the fire turned emerald green and rose higher than Fred himself, who stepped right into it, and shouted, "Diagon Alley!" He vanished in an instant. George followed suit as Mrs Weasley gave Harry a last couple of pointers.

George appeared in the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron. He stepped out briskly and walked over to where his brother was leaning against a wall to wait for the rest of the family. They were in a room just off the main bar area with a few seats and tables.

"No dawdling," said Tom the barman, calling over to the two boys.

"Just waiting for the rest," said Fred, nodding towards the fireplace. Sure enough, there was a burst of flame and Ron stepped out. He spotted his brothers and moved towards them.

"Where's Harry?" said Ron, looking around for his friend.

"Hasn't come through yet," said George, frowning.

"He went just before me," said Ron, his eyes opening wide. He turned around to see his dad getting out of the fireplace. "Dad! Harry's not here."

"I thought he might have said it wrong," said Mr Weasley, shaking his head. He looked over at Tom and headed towards the man.

"What'll happen to him?" said Ron, looking worried.

"Relax, he won't of gone far," said George, slapping a hand on his brother's shoulder. "He said Diagon Alley, right?"

"It sounded more like 'diagonally'," said Ron. "Is that bad?"

"Nah," said Fred unconvincingly, as he shook his head.

"Where's Harry?" said Mrs Weasley, who had arrived with Ginny and Percy in tow.

"Fred lost him" said George, gesturing towards him with a thumb.

"I've done nothing," said Fred. "I came through first. You can't blame this on me."

"He didn't arrive?" said Mrs Weasley, biting her bottom lip in worry. She turned around just as Mr Weasley re-joined the group.

"I spoke with Tom and he assures me Harry will be fine. Probably got dropped off one stop over on either side of Diagon Alley," said Mr Weasley.

"Are you sure? He could be anywhere," said Mrs Weasley, looking worried. Her voice started to get higher. "This is all he needs after everything he has been through."

"Quite sure," said Mr Weasley, trying to keep his wife calm. "Because Fred and George went through before him **,** the line between our house and here was already established as a sort of guide. He can't have gone far. I'm sure he'll make his way back to Diagon Alley. We'll head up to Gringotts. From the steps we'll be able to get a good view and see if we can spot him."

"Everyone hurry," said Mrs Weasley, grabbing hold of her daughter's arm and heading towards the backdoor of the pub.

Outside of the back of the pub, the wall had already been opened up into the street and the family spilled out into Diagon Alley itself. Fred and George led the way, with Percy, Ron, and Mr Weasley not far behind. Mrs Weasley and Ginny followed as best as they could. The twins bobbed and weaved through the crowded street, almost knocking over a wizard carrying several boxes as they ducked under his arms.

"Sorry," Fred shouted over his shoulder.

"There's Harry," barked George, pointing ahead. "He's with Hagrid."

At the bottom of the stairs outside Gringotts stood Hagrid with his big bushy beard and Harry looking decidedly dishevelled and covered in soot. Also with them was Ron's friend, and fellow Gryffindor, Hermione Granger, an extremely intelligent girl but a bit too much of a goodie-two-shoes for Fred and George's liking.

"Harry," Mr Weasley panted, "we hoped you'd only gone one grate too far... Molly's frantic, she's coming now..."

"Where did you come out?" asked Ron.

"Knockturn Alley," said Hagrid.

"Brilliant!" said Fred and George together, grinning from ear to ear.

Soon Mrs Weasley was fussing over Harry, cleaning the soot from his robes while Mr Weasley fixed his glasses. The group heading inside Gringotts where they met Hermione's family. Mr Weasley was delighted to find out they were muggles and pointed at the notes they were exchanging into wizard money. After a quick stop to collect coins from the family vault everyone was back outside the goblin bank and quickly splitting up to go their separate ways.

"We'll all meet at Flourish and Blotts in an hour to buy your school books," shouted Mrs Weasley as Fred and George headed towards Lee Jordan whom they had spotted a moment earlier.

"Yes mum," chorused the pair without looking back.

"And not one step down Knockturn Alley," she warned.

"What was that mum? Can't hear you," said Fred, grinning.

"I said stay away from Knockturn Alley!" reiterated Mrs Weasley.

"Love you to mum," answered George.

"Fredrick Gideon Weasley and George Fabian Weasley, I swear..." started Mrs Weasley striding towards the pair.

"Just kidding mum," said George, quickly.

"Yeah me too," added Fred.

Mrs Weasley stopped and pointed a finger at them, before turning around and taking Ginny off to get her robes for Hogwarts.

"You know she's serious when she uses our full names," said George, turning back to Lee.

"Gideon? Fabian?" said Lee, smirking.

"Our middle names are from mum's brothers," explained Fred.

"Good to know Fredrick," said Lee.

"Shut up..." Fred thought for a few moments, "Leestorpher."

"You think Lee is short for Leestorpher?" said Lee, cocking his head to one side.

"Maybe not Leestorpher," conceded Fred. "Maybe Leephen?"

"Neither of those are even real names," said Lee, as the boys started walking away from Gringotts. "At least guess real names like... I dunno..."

"See? It's not that easy," said Fred triumphantly.

"Leeroy or Leopold or Liam or..." Lee struggled for a few seconds, "...Lee...drick?"

"Well? Which one is it?" asked George.

"None of them," said Lee. "I was just giving you examples."

"So what's Lee short for?" inquired Fred.

"Cos he's got little legs," answered George, looking thoroughly delighted at his own joke.

"It's short for nothing," said Lee, shaking his head. "It's just Lee."

"Come on, nothing?" said George. "No reaction. What's Lee short for? Cos he's got little legs. It's perfect."

"What about your middle name?" said Fred, ignoring his brother.

"It's nothing. It's a normal middle name," said Lee, dismissively.

"So tell us," said Fred.

"No chance," said Lee. "You'll take the you-know-what."

"Obviously," nodded George. "Ow... sorry."

The three boys had been too preoccupied with their conversation that they didn't even notice the man until they had bumped into him, sending the armful of boxes he had been holding all over the floor. They started helping him collect them from the ground.

"Miro!" exclaimed Fred handing a box to the man before realising they knew him.

"Alright guys?" said Miro, grinning at the three of them as they piled the boxes back into his arms. "Still watching where you are going I see?"

"What are you doing here?" asked George, putting the last box in place.

"I work around here," explained Miro. "Well our office is in Knockturn Alley, but close enough."

"Oh yeah, the Wizard..." Lee clicked his fingers together as he tried to remember.

"Detective Agency," Miro finished the sentence for him. "Yeah, me and Mr Lexington got it set up properly over the summer."

"How's it going?" asked Fred.

"Slowly but that's to be expected," said Miro. "Once word gets out I'm sure we'll be busy. That reminds me; we hit a dead-end with your case."

"Their case?" said Lee, looking at the twins. "As suspects?"

"No, idiot," said Fred, punching his friend in the shoulder. "We were nearly killed last year? Remember?"

"That could be any year," said Lee.

"Actually that's fair enough," admitted George. "But last year someone sent an assassin after us and Enoch, so Miro was trying to see if he could find out who sent him."

"No luck?" said Fred.

"Complete dead-end. We found his home but it had been cleaned out," said Miro, shrugging his shoulders. "Someone must have known he'd failed and went there to get rid of any evidence. Mr Lexington has few ideas we could try but they are long shots. I'll let you know if we find anything. And if you hear anything strange from your end you let me know."

"Strange sounds coming from his end?" said Lee, nodding towards Fred. "That'll probably be onions. Any night he has them he stinks out the dorm room."

"I would make an argument against that, but **,** well…" said Fred, shrugging his shoulders.

"Sure you don't need a hand with those," said George, pointing at the boxes.

"I'll be fine," said Miro, adjusting the boxes for a better grip. "Besides, I'd rather try and balance these than risk bringing you three down to Knockturn Alley."

"We'll be fine," said Fred.

"Oh I'm sure of that. I'm more worried about what your mum would do to me," explained Miro. "See you guys later."

"See you," chorused the three boys, waving their friend away before continuing down the street.

"Where we heading?" asked Lee.

"Gambol and Japes?" said Fred, referring to the wizard joke shop. "Could stock up on some No-Heat Fireworks."

"Sounds good." said George, nodding.

"Is your middle name Ferbal?" said Fred, looking over at Lee.

"That's not even a name," sighed Lee.

"That wasn't a 'no'."

The boys spent a while browsing through the joke shop before picking up a few fireworks to bring home. At one point they bumped into Harry, Ron, and Hermione in their shop and showed them their planned purchases **,** much to the delight of the two boys. After another half an hour of browsing they bought their chosen items and left the shop to head for Flourish and Blotts. On their way they transferred most of the items out of the paper bag provided by the shop before putting a couple in their pockets and secreting the rest up their sleeves.

"You do know that's what the bag is for," advised Lee as Fred plopped one firework in the hood of his coat.

"Yes, but mum is going to check the bag," said Fred. "And anything she doesn't like in there she'll confiscate."

"Then she'll check our pockets," said George, tapping his to emphasise his point. "And do the same thing."

"So the stuff we _really_ want to keep... we hide," explained Fred.

"Why don't you just hide all of it and get rid of the bag?" asked Lee.

"We've been wandering through Diagon Alley on our own for an hour. There's no way she'd believe we didn't buy anything," said George. "If we showed up empty handed she'd search both of us all over. This way she only takes what we want her to take."

"You know if you put this much effort into your homework you'd probably be top of the class?"

"True but there's no fun in that, or explosions," said Fred.

"I think we could do with less explosions this year," said Lee.

"You'd think that, wouldn't you?" said George, grinning.

"Looks like I've got to go," said Lee, pointing across the street to where his parents were inside the second hand robes shop beckoning him to come over. "I need a new cloak apparently."

The boys said their goodbyes and headed on their way. At the bookshop there was a large crowded gathered inside, mainly made up of women roughly around Mrs Weasley's age, crammed against each other in a long line that snaked around the stacks of books arranged on tables. George nodded towards a large banner stretched across the upper windows of the shop which proclaimed that Gilderoy Lockhart was in attendance to sign copies of his books. They headed inside and managed to find their father who was struggling to carry all the books required for their lessons.

"Thanks lads," said Mr Weasley, as they took a number of books from his arms. "Did you hear the news? Gilderoy Lockhart is going to Hogwarts."

"Isn't he a bit old?" asked George, doing his best to balance his stack of books.

"As a teacher, George, not as a… honestly," said Mr Weasley, shaking his head.

"Well that make more sense," said George, wedging his chin on top of his pile of books to stop them wobbling. "I'm guessing Defence Against the Dark Arts, that's the only one without a teacher."

"Yeah, unless any of the others decided to retire this year," said Fred, deciding to rest his back against the wall of the bookshop while their father had made his way over to where Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione were stood.

"I can't see any of them going," said George. Their father was talking to a man with long blonde hair who seemed to be the father of a blonde boy standing next to the man. The twins vaguely remembered the boy as one of the previous year's first years at Hogwarts but couldn't quite place his face.

"Maybe Kettleburn," said Fred, referencing the Care of Magical Creatures' Professor who after a long, and rather reckless, career had lost all his limbs save for one arm and half a leg. "I can't see him lasting much…"

The rest of Fred's sentence was cut short by the sound of Ginny's cauldron going flying and clanging against the shop floor. For some inexplicable reason Mr Weasley had launched himself at the blonde stranger, knocking him backward into a bookshelf, and causing dozen of heavy spellbooks to come thundering down on the pair.

"Get him, Dad!" shouted Fred excitedly.

"Jab and move, jab and move," added George, as Mr Weasley rolled around on the ground with the man.

"Break it up there, gents, break it up…" ordered Hagrid wading towards the pair and pulling them apart.

"Here, girl… take your book… it's the best your father can give you…" snapped the man before pushing himself out of Hagrid's grip and exiting the shop with his son in tow.

"What was that all about?" Fred asked Ron as the Weasley family along with Harry, Hermione and her parents, left the shop and headed down the street.

"Doesn't matter," said Ron, looking rather embarrassed about the whole thing.

The incident put a bit of a dampener on the rest of the afternoon. The two families, Weasley and Granger, along with Harry headed back to the Leaky Cauldron with their purchases and chatted for a few moments before heading on their separate ways; the Grangers out of the pub and back to the muggle world, and the Weasleys to the Burrow via the Floo.

Once back at home the children made themselves scarce while Mrs Weasley stated in no uncertain terms that she wanted to have a discussion with Mr Weasley about the ruckus at Flourish and Blotts before she made dinner. Harry and Ron headed outside to get on some brooms and throw a Quaffle around, while Ginny, Percy, and the twins all headed to their bedrooms albeit for very different reasons. Ginny's room overlooked the courtyard where Harry and Ron were flying around on the brooms, and she wedged herself in her window alcove so she could look out at them while she browsed through her new school books. Percy had found an old battered book called _Prefects Who Gained Power_ in a junk shop in Diagon Alley which he wanted to read cover to cover before the day was out. The twins wanted to get their fireworks hidden in their room before their mother realised that with all the commotion at the bookshop she had forgotten to search the boys for any dangerous purchases.

"Fred! George!" Mrs Weasley's voice echoed up from the kitchen. "Bring those fireworks downstairs so I can check them. All of them, even the ones you are stuffing at the back of your underwear drawer."

"How does she do that every time?" said Fred, who had his arm firmly wedged in amongst the clothing.

* * *

It had been a few months since they had set up the Lexington Franca Wizarding Detective Agency above a small pie shop in Knockturn Alley, and despite their initial enthusiasm, business was slow. Lexington tried to use his contacts in the Auror's department to get them to send him any interesting cases they were working on which had become stalled but due to fact that his name had been blacklisted in the Ministry, all his requests were being ignored. The only cases they actually worked were the ones too trivial to interest the Ministry. So Miro and Lexington found themselves generally tracking down lost pets or misplaced jewellery.

"Here's your cut," said Lexington, handing Miro a few Galleons and a number of Sickles.

"Cheers," said Miro, glumly. As his partner opened the door with the name of their business emblazoned on the wood, he looked through the window of the pie shop and nodded at the owner. The gruff man inside didn't respond, which was in line with his usual customer non-friendly persona.

"Ah it's enough to feed us for a few days at least," said Lexington, as the pair climbed the narrow stairs up to their office. "We'll have a new case before we run out."

At the top of the stairs was a short corridor which had a couple of chairs lined against the wall. To the left, opposite the chairs, was a door with the name of the business written on the side while either side of the chairs were two more doors, both had 'private' written on them. At the far end of the corridor was another door with the word 'toilet' on the outside.

"We have a case," said a voice suddenly, next to Lexington's ear.

"Merlin's beard," exclaimed the man, clutching his chest. "I thought I told you to stop doing that Reg."

"Yes, sir, sorry sir," said Reg, whose face was protruding part way through the wall in the corridor.

"And come out of the wall so I can see you," added Lexington. "I don't mind ghosts but I'm not going to spend my days chatting to a wall."

"Right away sir," said Reg, floating out into the corridor. He was short, skinny, and wearing long flowing robes with large puffy sleeves. What little hair remained on his head was swept over the balding middle part of his scalp. He was polite, if overly apologetic, and he came with the building.

"You said we had a case," said Miro.

"Yes," nodded Reg. He pointed towards the office door. "She's in there. Mrs Elizabeth Formby."

"Has she been waiting long?" asked Lexington, trying his best to tidy himself.

"Only about five minutes," advised Reg.

"Right," said Lexington. He reached a hand towards the doorknob. "Shall we?"

"Thanks, Reg," said Miro, going to pat him on the shoulder. His hand passed straight through him. "Sorry, I always forget."

"That's okay, sir," said Reg, bowing his head. "Is that all, sir?"

"Yes, and stop calling me 'sir', it makes me feel old," said Miro.

"Yes sir, very good sir," said Reg, before floating upward through the ceiling.

"Good day, Mrs Formby," said Lexington, opening the door and stepping inside.

The office was a large square room with a sizeable window on the far side which filled most of the wall. The rest of the walls contained cabinets and shelves which were filled to capacity with trinkets and souvenirs that Lexington had collected over his years as an Auror. Miro still didn't know what half of them were and was pretty convinced that most of them fell afoul of a number of laws regarding the legality of owning dangerous magical artefacts. In front of the window were two large desks set at right angles to each other. They were pointed at two comfy seats in the middle of the room. One of the seats was currently occupied by a rather prim and poised woman.

Mrs Formby turned to greet them as they entered. Miro could see she was much younger looking than her clothes would have initially indicated. She had a kind face, with blue eyes and a warm smile. Her red hair was tucked neatly on top of her head into a tight bun.

"Mr Lexington?" said Mrs Formby.

"Please, call me Bernard," he said, shaking her hand. "This is my partner Miro Franca."

"Hello," said Miro, taking her hand. It was soft.

"Hello," said Mrs Formby, smiling. "You can call me Elizabeth, well, Lizzie."

"She's going to need it back at some point," muttered Lexington.

"Sorry?" said Miro, before he realised he was still shaking the woman's hand. He let go. "Oh, sorry."

"Now," said Lexington, taking his seat behind his desk. Miro did the same while he hoped no one noticed his blushing. "How can we help?"

"It's my husband. He's missing," said Mrs Formby.

"Husband, right," said Miro. He opened a desk drawer and pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill. He took out his wand and tapped the quill two times. It sprang into life and started taking notes completely by itself.

"How long has he been missing?" asked Lexington.

"About a week. Six days to be exact," said Mrs Formby.

"Six days? Has he ever been away this long before?" asked Lexington. He too had taken out a quill and parchment but he was writing his own notes.

"Not without telling me beforehand."

"And can I just ask if you've informed the Ministry about his disappearance?" said Lexington. He looked up from his writing. "Not that I'm complaining about the work of course."

"Of course," said Mrs Formby, appearing a little flustered. She leaned forward and lowered her voice slightly. "It's just that I'd rather the Ministry wasn't involved. I don't want my husband getting in trouble."

"Ah well, one thing we can guarantee around here is no Ministry involvement whatsoever," said Lexington reassuringly. "They want nothing to do with us and I am more than happy with that arrangement. You can rely on our total discretion."

"I knew you would be a good choice," said Mrs Formby. She waited a few moments as though weighing up her options. "I think he might have been involved in something… illegal. Everything was fine until a few weeks ago. Then he started staying up all night and having all these secret meetings."

"Secret meetings?" said Lexington. "Did you know who they were with?"

"No," said Mrs Formby, shaking her head. "I never saw the man, just heard him when he came to our house unexpectedly. My husband was furious that he was there. Threatened to tell the Ministry. But the man just laughed and said they'd both end up in Azkaban if he did. I couldn't hear anything else after that."

"Well, we'll probably have to look around your home to see if we can find any clues to his whereabouts," advised Lexington.

"Of course," said Mrs Formby, nodding her head.

"And where did he work? We'll probably have to look there too."

"Oh, well he was a treasure curator for Gringotts but he generally worked from home in his office. I'm sorry but I don't know who he reported to at work, it was a goblin but other than that I just don't know."

"That's okay, I'm sure we'll be able to dig something up," said Lexington. "Don't worry Mrs Formby. We'll get to the bottom of this one way or another."


	3. Chapter 3

"Come on, come on," barked Mr Weasley. It was first of September, and the Weasley children and Harry were busy gathering their belongings for school. Most items had already been brought down to the ground floor of the Borrow.

"Give us a chance," complained Ron, who was standing in the sitting room counting off a mental checklist on his fingers as he looked at all his school belongings. "Just making sure I don't forget anything."

"That'll be a first," said Percy, tapping his foot impatiently and crossing his arms. "I've been ready to go for the last hour."

"You don't get extra marks for getting on the Hogwarts' Express first," said George, as he and Fred pulled one of their trunks down the stairs and into the kitchen and placed it next to the another identical one. There was a moment of uncertainty and he looked over at his brother. "You don't, do you?"

"How would I know?" said Fred, shrugging his shoulders. He nodded towards his older brother. "Ask Percy, he would know."

"Hey Percy…" started George but his brother had already spun around in annoyance and stomped out of the room. He turned back to Fred and shrugged his shoulders, "I guess we'll never know."

Eventually, after much cajoling, the Weasley's Ford Anglia found itself host to all the Weasleys plus Harry, along with their school possessions as well as Harry's pet owl and Ron's rat. Mr Weasley had enchanted the car so that it was much larger on the inside but the boys were pretty sure that he had never mentioned this to his wife since she remarked at how roomy the muggles had managed to make the vehicle.

Soon they were trundling out of the yard and on their way, but had to stop suddenly because George had forgotten a box of Filibuster Fireworks he had hidden under his bed. Then they had to stop again, because Fred had left his broomstick behind. Finally they stopped one last time for Ginny to retrieve her diary. After that Mr Weasley told them that if they had forgotten anything further the children would have to wait for whatever it was to be posted to them at the school as they were now running late. Mr Weasley had hoped to make up time by switching the car into flying mode and travelling directly to King's Cross Station, but Mrs Weasley was quick to overrule him. This meant that by the time they managed to get to the magical entrance to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, they only had five minutes to spare. Percy rushed through first, followed quickly by Fred and George.

"Move it or lose it," shouted Fred, pushing his trolley around his older brother and racing towards the train.

"Mind yourself," complained Percy. He pulled his own trolley up to one of the doors of the train and began loading his trunk aboard with the help of one of his classmates who had seen him approaching.

"Honestly Percy, if you had been any slower we might have missed the train altogether," said George, as he and Fred hoisted their own possessions aboard.

Mr and Mrs Weasley passed by the boys with Ginny and her school supplies in tow. They managed to get her on board just before the train's whistle blasted loudly and the Hogwarts' Express pulled away in a cloud of smoke as students leaned out of the windows trying to wave to their parents before they were out of sight.

"We're going to have to get here earlier next year," huffed Fred, as he wiped the back of his hand across his forehead. It came away slick with sweat. He dried it against his trousers.

"Come on," said George, pointing down the corridor. "We'll see if there are any free carriages."

It took the two boys a while to find a seat as practically all of the carriages were full to capacity. Eventually they came across Lee who had been saving them space in one of the compartments along with Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet.

"About time," said Lee, opening the door and helping them inside with their luggage. "I thought you might have missed the train altogether when I didn't see you on the platform."

"Entirely Percy's fault," said Fred, hefting his trunk up onto one of the overhead storage compartments.

"Yes, that sounds likely," said Angelina, sarcastically.

"Okay, partially. Partially Percy's fault," corrected Fred, throwing his broomstick on top of his trunk. "How does that sound?"

"It sounds like you don't know the meaning of the word 'partially'," said Alicia.

"Fine…" conceded Fred. He sat down. "It was Ron's fault."

"What are you doing?" said Lee, looking down at Fred.

"Er… sitting," said Fred, wondering how else he could have possibly answered the question.

"No, no, no," said Lee, wagging a finger before pointing to the seat closest to the door and the one in the middle. "I saved these seats for you two. I'm having the window seat."

"Then you should have got here first," countered Fred.

"Yeah, first come first served," added George, sitting down on the seat nearest the door.

"I was here first. I was literally the first person on board the train today," stated Lee. He folded his arms in annoyance before turning to look at the girls for some support.

"Don't know why you're looking at us," said Angelina, shaking her head. "It's not like they would listen to us."

"Fine," said Lee. He sulkily sat down in the middle seat and started grumbling to himself. "First one here and still get stuck in the middle seat. Last time, I tell you, last time this happens."

"That's the spirit," said George, nudging him with his shoulder. "Always helps to be positive."

Lee was about to make what he thought would have been a witty response but he was interrupted by the arrival of Ginny at the door. Her face was partially red from having spent time dragging her trunk throughout the train, and she waited a moment to catch her breath.

"What do you want?" asked Fred, before she could say anything.

"Don't be so rude," said Angelina, kicking his leg slightly with the tip of her foot. "You're one of the new first years right? What's your name?"

"Ginny."

"Ginny?" said Alicia, frowning. She looked at the girl's red hair and then across at George. "Is she your sister?"

"Yep," said George nodding. "Youngest sister."

"Youngest?" asked Alicia. "You have another sister?"

"What would you call Percy?" scoffed George.

"Are you saying Percy is a girl?" said Angelina.

"Exactly," said George, smiling.

"And what exactly is wrong with being a girl?" asked Angelina, staring at him pointedly.

"Er… there's nothing wrong…" ventured George.

"Exactly." Angelina turned to look at Ginny. "So you have to put up with these two idiots all the time? At least we get the holidays away from them."

"Yeah," mumbled Ginny, looking down at her feet.

"Having trouble finding an empty carriage?" asked Alicia, nodding her head towards the trunk.

"I was looking for the other first years," explained Ginny, still talking to her shoes. "Just haven't found any yet."

"Probably at the front, next to the Prefects' carriage," said Alicia, pointing further down the corridor.

"Oh right," said Ginny. She looked down at her luggage and let out a sigh.

"Don't worry," said Angelina, pointing towards Fred and George. "They'll help you with that."

"We will?" snorted George. He caught the look that Angelina threw at him. "Er… yeah, we will."

George stood up and kicked his brother in the leg to make him stand as well. The two boys made their way into the corridor and grabbed one end of the trunk each.

"Thanks George," called Lee, who had reclaimed the window seat and made a show of getting himself into a comfy position. "You warmed it up for me."

The three Weasleys made their way down the train, looking in each compartment as they went. As predicted by Alicia, they found the first years at the front of the train. Choosing one of the compartments that looked like it wasn't too crowded George pulled open the door.

"Alright guys," he said to the group. "I'm George, this is my equally attractive but vastly dumber brother Fred, and this is my sister Ginny. She okay to bunk in here with you?"

The group of first years just looked at the three new arrivals with blank expressions. George took the silence as permission and promptly began, with the help of Fred, lifting the heavy trunk into the last remaining free space above the seats.

"Well there you go," said Fred, ushering his sister into one of the seats. She looked extremely embarrassed by the whole situation and let her hair fall forward to cover the majority of her face.

"She's a personal friend of Harry Potter," said George, nodding towards his sister. He noticed the other occupants of the carriage suddenly sit up and take bit more interest in Ginny.

"Actually, I'm surprised you didn't ask Harry and Ron to help you," said Fred.

"Oh, I didn't see them," said Ginny, looking up at them.

"That's odd," said George. "They weren't in with that girl… er… Hermione when we passed by."

"Wonder where they are," said Fred, scratching the back of his neck. "Anyway, see you later sis."

"You know Harry Potter?" one of the first years eagerly asked Ginny as Fred and George stepped into the corridor.

"He stayed at ours over the summer…" began Ginny before the closing door cut off the rest of her sentence.

"I wonder where they are," said George, looking down the corridor. There were only a few compartments left until they reached the one that was for the sole use of the Prefects as Percy was quick to remind them.

"They'd hardly be in any of these," said Fred, he quickly walked the length of the corridor and checked each of the compartments. "You think Ginny might have missed them?"

"Ginny? Somehow fail to spot Harry?" scoffed George, as they began to make their way back to their own compartment. "If it was just Ron, I'd say fair enough but there's no way she wouldn't spot Harry."

The two boys made their way through the train checking for their younger brother and his friend as they went, but nobody had seen them. They stopped by the carriage with Hermione to check with her and she became quite concerned that they might have missed getting on the train altogether.

"Any luck?" asked Lee, once the Fred and George returned to the cabin. They had previously explained the absence of Harry and Ron and had gone in search of the two boys.

"Nope," said George, sitting down. "Not anywhere on the train and no one has seen them."

"Not at all?" asked Alicia, she pointed a thumb behind herself. "Not even on the platform?"

"Last time I saw them we were getting out of the car," said Fred, trying his best to remember. "We were running late so we all just ran through. Maybe they just didn't get through in time and missed the train. But I can't see how. They would have been right behind us."

"You don't think something could have happened to them do you?" asked George, sounding concerned. "Harry said that House Elf told him not to come back to Hogwarts this year."

"Sorry, what now?" said Lee.

The twins retold the story that Harry had told them the night they had rescued him from the Dursleys about how a House Elf named Dobby had used magic to drop a cake onto the head of a muggle. This had resulted in a reprimand from the Ministry of Magic who thought that it had been Harry who had performed the magic in defiance of the Ministry's ban on underage magic.

"And you think this House Elf might have done something?" said Alicia, sounding sceptical. "Why?"

"I don't know, why would he smash a cake on some woman's head?" said George.

"The only reason, other than because it was funny, would be to get Harry in trouble with the Ministry, and possibly expelled from the school," reasoned Fred.

"But why would a House Elf want him in trouble or expelled from school?" said Angelina.

"The House Elf wouldn't but its owner might," said Alicia. "I don't know anyone that owns a House Elf but from what I do know they can't even sneeze without asking their owners for permission."

"But why send a House Elf? Just do it yourself," said Lee.

"But what if they can't do it themselves," said Alicia, thoughtfully. "All of us here can do a levitating spell, right?"

"Yeah," agreed everyone with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

"But none of us here can Apparate yet. We would have to fly on a broom or use the Knight Bus or something to get to Harry's house. And if we did that someone would notice we were missing," explained Alicia. "So the easiest way to mess with Harry would be to send a House Elf, assuming you owned one."

"That's actually brilliant," nodded Lee. "But who do we know that owns a House Elf and wants to mess with Harry?"

"That bit's easy," said George. "That Malfoy kid in his year. He hates Harry and I'd bet you anything his family are rich enough to have a House Elf."

"Did I tell you my dad punched his dad?" said Fred.

"Seriously?" said Lee, trying to picture Mr Weasley doing anything violent. "Your dad? Punched someone?"

"Yeah we were collecting our books in Diagon Alley when we came across him. He started being rude about our family and my dad just went for him. Hagrid broke it up but not before dad got a few digs in," said Fred, sounding proud.

"Did that happen when Gilderoy Lockhart was signing books?" asked Angelina.

"Yeah, how did you know?" said George.

"It made the Daily Prophet," said Angelina, she pointed towards a copy of the paper which was discarded on the seat between her and Alicia. It showed a beaming Lockhart with his arm around a thoroughly uncomfortable looking Harry. "But it said it was a fight about people queuing for his autograph."

"Er… guys," said Lee, looking out of the window. "What colour did you say your dad's car was?"

"Like a light blue," said Fred. He brother confirmed it with a nod. "Why?"

"Because I'm pretty sure I just spotted something that looked like a flying light blue car," said Lee, pointing up into the sky."

"Seriously?" said George, leaning over his friend to get a better look out of the window.

"It's gone back into the cloud, but I'm pretty sure that's what I saw," said Lee not taking his eyes away from where he had been previously looking.

"Huh, mum and dad might be trying to catch up with the train," said Fred, thoughtfully, "but why didn't they just Apparate or use a Floo to Hogsmeade and then walk to the school. That would have been easier, and taken less time."

"Actually, why don't all of us do that?" said George. "It would save everyone spending hours on this train, and we'd be able to get more time to eat in the Great Hall."

"Always thinking with your stomach," said Angelina, shaking her head. "The reason we use the train is because it's what's been done for years. It's traditional."

"Just because it's traditional doesn't mean it's not stupid," said George.

"Like the annual prank war you two have on your birthday?" said Alicia, pointing at the twins.

"What about it?" asked Fred.

"It's stupid," explained Alicia.

"It's traditional," countered Fred.

"That was kind of my point," said Alicia, but her comment seemed lost on the boy.

"There!" shouted Lee, pointing excitedly. "There it is again!"

The occupants of the compartment all crowded around the window and peered up into the sky. During a large break in the cloud, as Lee had indicated, they could all see Mr Weasley's light blue Ford Anglia flying above the train.

"Hang on," said Angelina, pulling her wand from her pocket. She drew a circle with the tip against the glass of the window before tapping the centre three times. "Amplio."

The glass shimmered for a few seconds and the window changed so that now the circle showed a much more magnified view.

"See? This is why we always copy off you," said Fred, impressed with the girl's spell.

"Wait? You copy off me?" complained Angelina as she put her wand away.

"All the time," nodded Fred. "But it doesn't count if you don't know about it."

"I'm pretty sure it does coun…"

"That's not your dad driving," said Lee, cutting Angelina's objection short. "Or your mum."

The now enchanted window allowed them to see the car up close. The wind buffeted the vehicle to one side and they were able to see inside. Lee was right, there were only two occupants of the car visible and neither were Mr and Mrs Weasley.

"That's Ron and Harry," said Fred and George, excitedly.

"That's Ron and Harry," said Angelina, at the same time but in exasperation.

"Why would your mum let them drive that car on their own?" said Lee, frowning. "I mean, your dad I can understand but your mum?"

"Oh she wouldn't," said Fred, smiling. "They took that car without permission."

"Why are you so happy?" asked Alicia.

"One; because I'm proud our little brother is following in our footsteps," said Fred, holding one finger up. A second digit joined the first. "And two; mum is going to kill him."

"Which means Fred and I are off the hook for anything she finds in our room that we forgot to hide properly," added George. "She can only really concentrate her anger at whatever annoyed her the most."

The story of Ron and Harry flying the car soon spread throughout the Hogwarts' Express. While most people didn't initially believe the story, it only took about half a dozen students spotting the Ford Anglia through the clouds before everyone was pressed against the windows trying to catch a glimpse. By the time the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station, and everyone clambered onto the waiting carriages, it was all they could talk about.

All throughout the welcoming feast in the Great Hall, people were coming over to Fred and George, slapping them on the back and congratulating the two of them for having such a reckless brother. The twins were delighted but Percy was suitably mortified and told anyone who would listen that they must have taken the car without permission and that his parents would definitely be punishing the pair.

"Uh-oh," said Lee, looking worried. He nodded towards the top table where the teachers were located. Mr Filch had approached the table and seemed to be talking to Professor's Dumbledore and McGonagall. Both had serious expressions on their faces and McGonagall in particular looked furious. "Looks like they found out."

"Might not be that," said George, trying to sound hopeful.

"There's only one thing, well two things, that make McGonagall pull that face and that's you two," said Lee. "So if it isn't Ron and Harry then it could only be about something you two have done, and I've been with you two since the train and amazingly you haven't broken any rules yet, so it can't be that."

"Ah, now he's telling Snape," said Fred, shaking his head as the school caretaker had made his way down the table and spoke with the Potion's Master. After a few exchanged words, Snape stood up from the table and exited the hall by a side door. "What a git."

A hush fell over the Great Hall as Dumbledore stood and quieted everyone by raising a hand for silence. There was a loud click, followed by a creak as a door was opened and McGonagall led the new first years into the room for the Sorting Hat ceremony. The twins spotted Ginny amongst the group and they waved at her but she didn't notice as she was too busy trying not to bump into the person ahead of her.

"She looks green," said Lee. He looked over at his friends sat on the other side of the table. Their smirks made him let out a sigh. "What did you tell her?"

"When it's on your head the Sorting Hat shouts out all your secrets; starting with the most embarrassing one," said George, smiling.

"I went with; it always makes at least one person throw up," said Fred.

"That's a weird one," said George. "Mine's better."

"Ah but you see yours stops working after the first person is sorted. Ginny will see that the Sorting Hat doesn't shout out any secrets straight away. But mine? Since our surname starts with W, she'll be called towards the end. As each person is sorted but doesn't get sick, Ginny will start to think that maybe she will be the one to throw up and it'll only get worse as there are fewer and fewer people left."

"That is pure evil," said Lee, looking astonished.

"I was rather proud of it myself," said Fred, huffing onto his finger nails and pretending to polish them on his chest.

The boys watched as Ginny slowly looked more and more ashen as the pool of unsorted students slowly dwindled until there was only her and one more boy left. She slowly, and with an uncertain wobble, made her way to the stool and waited for the hat to be placed down on her head. She gripped her hands together so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

"GRYFFINDOR!" exclaimed the Sorting Hat.

Ginny let out a long sigh of relief and smiled as she made her way towards the Gryffindor table to sit with the other first years who welcomed her with wide grins.

"Go Ginny!" shouted Fred, clapping along with the rest of his House.

"She's going to kill you, you do know that right?" said George, as the cheering subsided while the last first year took a seat on the stool.

"Ah she won't, I'm her favourite," dismissed Fred with a wave of his hand.

"You made her think she would throw up. In front of everyone."

"I'll just say it must have just been luck…" began Fred.

"Bleaughhhhh!"

The last boy to be sorted had promptly, and rather spectacularly, thrown up all over the floor of the Great Hall. Madam Pomfrey had already leapt into action, cleaning away the vomit with a spell and putting a consoling arm around the boy she led him towards the Hufflepuff table. She sat him down and handed him a vial from her pockets to sniff in an attempt to calm him stomach. Some of his new Housemates gathered around him to offer support, while others flashed looks of annoyance over at the Slytherin table where a few muted giggles could be heard.

George and Lee looked over at Fred.

"Huh? What are the chances?" he said shrugging.


	4. Chapter 4

The following day the twins were hunched over their breakfasts trying their best not to fall asleep into their porridge. Towards the end of the previous night's feast a new nugget of information soon found its way rippling through the student body. Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor House ghost, had overheard some teachers talking about Ron and Harry and how they had apparently crashed a flying car into the Whomping Willow and were probably going to be expelled. As this news was transferred between eager students it slowly made its way over to the Gryffindor table and resulted in the House throwing a party for the two triumphant second years when they finally returned to the Common Room. Luckily neither of the boys was expelled but no doubt due to the dressing down they'd been given by McGonagall they weren't in a particular mood to celebrate. Not that this stopped either of the twins from carrying on the party regardless, and it wasn't until very late in the night (or early in the morning depending on your point of view) that they finally made it to their warm cosy beds.

"You two look terrible," said Lee, finishing his food just as the morning post arrived. Dozens of owls fluttered around the room dropping off various packages and letters from home. Most of the first years looked up in wonder as the birds flew in while the majority of the other students barely registered their arrival unless they were expecting something to be delivered.

"Yeah well…" George's comeback was stopped as he tried his best to stifle a yawn. He tapped his brother on the shoulder and pointed at Lee. "Hit him with an insult. I'm too tired."

"Er… some…thing to do with your face," said Fred, waving a hand towards his friend. "I'll get you later." He rested his chin on the palm of his hand, his eyes slowly drooped and he started to faintly snore.

There was a sudden explosion of sound which caused everyone in the room to jump in fright. Fred slammed his hand down at the unexpected noise and ended up propelling his spoon out of his bowl and over towards the Ravenclaw table. He didn't bother to look for it because like everyone else he was too busy looking over at the cause of the disturbance which was someone shouting in anger. Unlike everyone else, he and George recognised the voice as belonging to their mother.

"…ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED… YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME."

"Even you two have never received a howler," said Lee, referring to the red enveloped that had just shouted at Ron before bursting into flames. Their younger brother looked terrified at the experience. A few people laughed and, gradually, a babble of talk broke out again.

"I know, I almost feel outdone," said Fred. He looked around to see where about his errant spoon had ended up. "Probably not worth trying to get one."

"Definitely not worth it," agreed Lee, as his friend went to retrieve the spoon from under the feet of one of the new Ravenclaw students.

"Yeah," agreed George, he looked thoughtful as he slowly stroked his chin. "I mean it would have to be something pretty big."

"I thought you said it wasn't worth getting a howler."

"I know I did," said George, before going back to his musings. "But it doesn't hurt to plan ahead. Something big, but not too big, wouldn't want to get expelled."

"Why do I even bother?" muttered Lee, shaking his head.

"Got my spoon," said Fred, waving it in the air as he sat down. He looked at it for a few seconds, before wiping it on his trouser leg and using it to take a bite of porridge. He used the spoon to point back towards the Ravenclaw table. "You know Lovegood? Lives down our way, anyway that's his daughter. If you think he was weird, you should meet her. Said my spoon was probably covered in Sardies."

"Sardines? As in the fish?" asked Lee.

"Sard _ies_ , apparently they are invisible dust imps who feed on leftovers," explained Fred, shoving more food into his mouth.

"Never heard of them."

"I don't think anyone has," advised Fred, shrugging his shoulders.

"Wonder what we have today," said George, as Professor McGonagall moved along the Gryffindor table and handed out the course schedules for the year. George wiped his hand on his trousers before taking the schedule and waited until McGonagall had moved out of earshot before he looked through it. "Nice one. Double History of Magic."

"Do I have time to grab my pillow?" said George, looking around at the large clock that hung on the wall of the Great Hall and trying to mentally calculate who long it would take him to go back to his room before heading to class.

"If you want to be late," said Fred, checking the time as well and doing the same calculations.

"Sure, I doubt Binns even notices if we're there or not, let alone if you're late," said Lee.

"I'll go grab it then. Save me a spot," said George, pushing his bowl away and getting up.

"I'm surprised you aren't getting yours," said Lee to Fred as George pushed passed other students getting up to make their way to their first classes of the year.

"No need," said Fred. He opened his school bag to show his friend the contents. The only thing inside was a pillow.

"What would you have done if our first lesson wasn't History of Magic?"

"What I usually do, just borrow everything from my kind hearted friends," said Fred, shrugging as he closed his bag again.

The two made their way down to the History of Magic class and found a couple of seats towards the back. Fred, picked the seat next to the wall, pulled out his pillow and lay down on the desk. He was asleep before his brother had made it down to the class. George followed suit and soon Lee was sitting in class with his two friends dozing next to him while he pretended not to be hearing any of the snoring noises emanating from the pair. Every now and then one of twins would let out a large snort, which would cause one of the other students to look around in annoyance before rolling their eyes at Lee. If Professor Binns minded, or even noticed, students sleeping in his class he never let it be known, he just carried on giving his lesson as usual.

The room was stuffy and overly warm and after a while the heads of several other students began to dip as Binns continued his unrelenting droning about some long forgotten period of wizarding history and it didn't take long before at least half of the class had fallen asleep. Soon the lesson was over and those that had managed to remain awake elbowed the rest back to the land of the living, and with lots of yawning and stretching people starting picking their bags up for the next lesson.

"Should we wake them?" said Alicia, nodding to the twins and Lee at the back of the room. All three were fast asleep. Fred had his pillow wedge against the wall with his head buried against it. George had cuddled his arms around his pillow on the desk. While Lee was leant back in his chair with his head thrown back and his mouth opened wide.

"Nah," said Angelina, shaking her head. "I could do with at least one quiet lesson for a change."

* * *

The first week back at school was always the worst. After a whole summer of extra-long lie-ins it was a sudden shock to the system to be awake and studying before lunch time. (Mrs Weasley would wake them early during the summer but more often than not the twins would find some way of making their way back to bed.) By the time the weekend came around the twins were grateful for a morning spent in bed, or at least they would have been if it had it not been for someone they hadn't counted on, namely Oliver Wood the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, who had woken Fred and George at the crack of dawn for training.

"How long do you think I'd get put in Azkaban if I killed him?" said Fred groggily to the room at large. In addition to George were Alicia, Angelina, and Katie Bell, none of them looking particularly awake. Only Oliver seemed to have any energy as he fussed around with a board that contained a picture of the Quidditch field covered in many lines, arrows and crosses. They were waiting on the final member of the team, Harry, to join them.

"Whatever you get would be worth it," mumbled Angelina, barely managing the effort to get the words out, "I'll tell the Wizarding Court it was a mercy killing."

"Why would it be a mercy killing?" muttered Fred with his eyes half closed.

"Because if you don't, I will," said Angelina, "and I'll make sure it hurts."

"There you are Harry, what kept you?" said Oliver, briskly, as the team Seeker entered the room. Like the rest he seemed just as tried and dishevelled. "Now, I wanted a quick talk with you all before we actually get onto the field…"

Oliver launched into a speech about tactics whilst gesticulating towards one of the boards and showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. Fred's head lolled to one side and ended up on Alicia's shoulder while he started to snore. She didn't even have the energy to shrug him off and just left him. It was just like being in Binns' classes. In fact, it was probably worse since neither of the boys had their pillows with them.

"Is that clear? Any questions?" said Oliver, after what seemed like an age.

"I've got a question, Oliver," said George, who had woken with a start. "Why couldn't you have told us all this yesterday when we were awake?"

"Now, listen here, you lot," said Oliver, glowering at the team. "We should have won the Quidditch Cup last year. We're easily the best team. But unfortunately owing to circumstances beyond our control…" he trailed off and everyone made a point of not looking at Harry who had missed the final game of the season due to being unconscious in the hospital wing at the time.

"So, this year, we train harder than ever before. Okay, let's go and put our new theories into practice!" Wood shouted before grabbing his broom and leading the way out of the locker room.

"Angelina," said George, stifling a yawn as the rest of the team filtered out after their captain. "Tell me how you'd kill him. And tell me slowly. I want to savour it."

The group slowly made their way out of the changing rooms and down onto the pitch. Fred and George were carrying the box which contained the Quidditch balls and Beater bats between them whilst everyone had their brooms slung over their shoulders.

Practice had barely started before it was interrupted by the opposing Slytherin team lead by Marcus Flint, who had brazenly walked onto the field in their Quidditch robes and carrying their brooms. Flint ignored Oliver's protests that he had booked the field for Gryffindor's practice and presented him with a note from Snape that gave them permission to use the field owing to the fact that they had a new Seeker to train. The new player turned out to the Draco Malfoy, a student in Ron's year who had spent most of the previous year butting heads with Harry over one thing or another. What was worse was that Draco's father had bought every member of the Slytherin team brand new Nimbus Two-Thousand-and-One brooms to use. Flint couldn't help but gloat as he compared the new brooms with the older brooms owned by the Gryffindor team. The arguing had drawn the attention of Ron and Hermione who had come down to watch the practice session.

"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," said Hermione sharply to one of Malfoy's taunts. "They got in on pure talent."

"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little mudblood," spat Malfoy, obviously ruffled by the girl's jibe.

There was uproar at the boy's words. Fred and George leapt forward to tackle him but were prevented by Marcus Flint who had put his rather large frame in the way and were holding them back with ease.

"How dare you!" shrieked Alicia, pointing a finger at the boy.

"You'll pay for that Malfoy," exclaimed Ron. He aimed his wand under Flint's arm.

A loud bang echoed around the stadium and a jet of green light shot out of the wrong end of Ron's wand, hitting him in the stomach and sending him reeling backwards onto the grass. Everyone looked at him in surprised silence.

"Ron! Ron! Are you all right?" squealed Hermione, standing over him and fretting.

Ron opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead he gave an almighty belch and several slugs dribbled out of his mouth onto his lap. Harry and Hermione quickly helped him up and led him off towards Hagrid's while the Slytherin team fell about the place laughing hard.

"Come on, let's go," ordered Oliver pointing back towards the changing rooms. He gave the opposing team a dirty look that was matched by the rest of the team.

"That was priceless," howled Malfoy. He was on all fours banging the ground with his fist.

A couple of seconds later there was a loud ripping sound, which caused the Gryffindor team to look back and the Slytherin team to stop laughing. Malfoy now had both hands wedged onto his buttocks trying desperately to hold a large rip together that had formed on the seat on his trousers.

"Er… does your underwear have little owls on them?" exclaimed Alicia, looking delighted. "Oh my word, they do, don't they?"

"Shut up," countered Malfoy. He was now standing so his Quidditch robes hung over the tear.

"Careful up there," said Fred, pointing into the sky. "You don't want to catch a cold. Although it's probably the only thing you'd ever be able to catch on a broom."

"That was brilliant," said George, as the team trudged off the field. "Perfect timing."

"Thanks," said Angelina, tucking her wand into her sleeve whilst grinning.

"You did that?" said George, looking thoroughly impressed.

"Simple tearing spell," said Angelina, shrugging her shoulders. "Do you think they just happened to rip on their own? Horrible little git, got everything he deserved."

"You have no idea how attractive I find you right now," said George, grinning. His smile slowly wavered and transformed into a horrified look when it dawned on him what he had just said out loud. "I mean…er…what I meant..."

"Wow, just wow," said Fred, shaking his head. Alicia and Katie stared with their mouths opened wide while Angelina just stood there with a wide-eyed stunned expression on her face.

"I didn't mean…" said George, continuing to stammer.

"I don't think dating within the team is a good idea," said Oliver, oblivious to the awkward atmosphere that had suddenly enveloped the group. "Could lead to issues down the line."

"I didn't say I wanted to date…" began George, whose face had quickly caught up with his hair in terms of colour.

"Why not?" said Fred, eagerly as he enjoyed his brother's growing discomfort. "What's wrong with Angelina?"

"Nothing, there's nothing wrong with Angelina," said George, quickly.

"Which is why you think she's attractive?" said Fred.

"I didn't say she was attractive," countered George.

"Oh? So you're saying she's ugly?"

"Of course not."

"So you do think she is attractive?"

"Yes. No. I didn't…" said George, trying to think on his feet. He suddenly pointed behind the group with wide panicked eyes. "What the in Merlin's Beard is that?"

Everyone turned around quickly expecting to see something amazing but were disappointed to see that there was just the Quidditch pitch and nothing else. They turned back to ask George what he had been pointing towards but all they could see was his rapidly retreating body sprinting away as fast as his legs could carry him. All eyes turned to Fred for an explanation.

"Ah," he said nodding in appreciation. "The old 'distract and run'. It's a classic. Personally I prefer the 'fake left, go right' but each to their own."

"Well that couldn't have been any more embarrassing," commented Angelina, shaking her head.

"Really?" said Oliver, thoughtfully. "Because Fred and George are twins, and generally have the same taste in things, so presumably if you really wanted to know if George was attracted to you, you could ask Fred if _he_ was attracted to you and then you'd know."

"Oliver, what part about this whole thing do you think was embarrassing for Angelina?" asked Alicia, turning to look at the Quidditch Captain.

"She never found out if George liked her," said Oliver flatly, looking around at the group for confirmation he was right.

"Really? That's what you think I'd be embarrassed about?" said Angelina.

"I know it's silly right?" said Oliver. "Like I said, just ask Fred."

Everyone turned to look at Fred once again. There was an expectant pause as he looked at each of the girls in turn.

"Fake left, go right," said Fred, quickly stepping one way before running off in the other direction.

"You can't just run away," shouted Alicia at the boy's retreating form.

"What do you think I'm doing right now?" replied Fred, over his shoulder.

"You know the easiest way to Gryffindor is this way right?" called Katie, pointing in the direction they were originally all heading.

"I'll take the long way round."

"Boys," said Angelina, shaking her head.

"Boys," repeated Katie and Alicia together.

"Boys," added Oliver, nodding along.

* * *

"Anything?" asked Lexington. He and Miro had been at the Formby's house for the last hour searching through it for any clues as to where Mr Formby could have disappeared. He was now flicking through the books a shelf in the man's home office.

"Nah," said Miro, looking around the small room. It was difficult to get around as the floor was littered with boxes upon boxes. Each one was filled with trinkets, treasures, and straw to keep the contents safe. As far as the two men could see none of the items were dangerous or particularly valuable according to the dockets affixed to the side of every box.

"Same here," said Lexington. He put away his wand which he had been using to try and reveal where Mr Formby might have been hiding anything incriminating. He sat down on the old worn high backed chair behind the desk and gazed his eyes over the various parchments unfurled over its surface. He picked up the closest one and read a few sentences before putting it to one side. "All this stuff and there is nothing that we need."

"I don't know about nothing," said Miro, holding up a brown rock the size of his fist, "I'm sure I've always wanted one of these… whatever the hell it is."

"Mogflurg excrement," said Lexington, looking over at the rock. He pointed his finger. "You can tell from the purple swirls and the silver flecks running through it."

"Ew…" said Miro, dropping the stone and rubbing his hand on his trouser leg. The stone hit the floor with a weird sounding 'clunk'. "What was that?"

"That sounded a bit hollow," said Lexington, standing up and making his way over. He took out his wand and tapped it on the floor in several places. One area made a distinctly different sound to the rest. He waved his wand in the air. "Revelio."

"Nothing?"

"There's definitely something here. Just can't find it magically for some reason," said Lexington. He pulled out a small knife from his left boot, pushed the blade between two of the floorboards and twisted. There was a slight click sound as a chunk of the wood came away revealing something covered in cloth underneath. Lexington prodded it a couple of times with the blade before picking it up and opening the wrapping. Inside was a smooth box made entirely out of dark black stone. "Onyx stone. No wonder we couldn't find it with magic, this would automatically stop any spells from working. Let's take a look inside shall we?"

Lexington tried to pry the box open but it stubbornly refused to budge. After a few moments he held it up to get a better look to see if there were a keyhole or some other way to open it.

"Hang on," said Miro, he held his hand out. "Can I have a look at it?"

"Any ideas," said Lexington handing the box over.

"When my grandfather died he left a whole bunch of things to different things to people. He was a bit of a collector… well my dad would call him a hoarder but anyway…" as Miro spoke he prodded and pulled on the box, "a bunch of the things he left were these muggle-made puzzle boxes which all had special ways of opening. My dad just used a spell to open them all. Nothing in them of course so he just gave them to me to play with. And I'm thinking that maybe this box might… aha!"

Miro smiled triumphantly as he squeezed the four sides of the box at the same time with his fingers and a faint 'click' could be heard before the lid popped open. Lexington leaned forward to get a good look as he pulled open the box. There was only one thing inside: a silver key.


	5. Chapter 5

Soon October arrived, bringing with it damp misty conditions that bathed the school in a muggy grey fog. Madame Pomfrey was kept extremely busy with the usual outbreak of colds, flu, and coughs that wormed their way through the student body. No one was immune to getting ill, which is why it came as no surprise that one morning Fred and George found themselves waking up to hacking coughs and snot filled noses.

"Oh Godric," mumbled Fred. "I think I'm dying."

"I might already be dead," said George, letting out a loud cough before wheezing as he tried to catch his breath. "Am I dead? Am I a ghost? Lee? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"You're not dead," advised Lee. He threw a pillow at George who had been making a rude gesture with his hand. "Although you might be if you miss Transfiguration."

"I can't Transfigurate today," said George. "Is that even a word? Transformulate. Transfiguretting. Trans…fog."

"Tell her, we're sorry but we're dead," advised Fred, pulling his blanket back over his head.

"Yeah, I'm not even going to think about telling her that. Here," said Lee, taking a bottle out of his side desk and throwing it over toward Fred. It landed on his bed, just next to his chest. "Take some of this."

"Is it poison?" said Fred, taking up the bottle. "Will it put me out of my misery?"

"It's Madam Pomfrey's Pepperup Potion. Works in an instant," advised Lee. "I had the same thing as you last night and one dose of that fixed me right up."

"You don't have what we have," said Fred, removing the stopper and sniffing at the contents. He would have wrinkled his nose at the smell but he was too bunged up to inhale any vapours. "What we have is some fatal disease. Probably got bitten by something in the night."

"I think it's more likely you got a cold from spying on the Slytherin Quidditch practice last night. It was raining pretty hard. I did warn you, but you ignored me," said Lee.

"We ignored you? That doesn't sound like something we would do," said Fred. He took a mouthful of the potion and swallowed. It tasted extremely peppery but after a few sniffs and coughs he felt much better. "Merlin's Beard that worked. Here George."

"Told you," said Lee.

"Must be pretty strong stuff to stop what was clearly some kind of fatal illness," said Fred, as his brother followed suit and swallowed some of the potion.

"Wow," said George, looking at the bottle in astonishment. "We should see if we can get a batch of this for a home. Works much better than mum's chicken soup. Although, doesn't taste as nice. Er… Fred?"

"Yeah?" said Fred, who was now pulling on his clothes.

"Your ears are smoking."

"Er… thanks," said Fred, frowning. "It's an odd thing to compliment me on but fair enough."

"I wasn't giving you a compliment," said George, sitting up in bed. "There is smoke coming out of your ears."

"What?" said Fred, putting his hands over his ears and looking in the mirror. Sure enough, when he removed his fingers a cloud of smoke puffed out of each of his ears. He looked over at his brother and pointed. "It's happening to you too."

"What?" shouted George, looking in the mirror himself.

"Seriously?" said Lee, shaking his head. "It's one of the side-effects of the Pepperup Potion. Didn't you notice everyone has been like that the last few days?"

"Really?" said George, examining his ears in the mirror. "I just thought people might be setting themselves on fire a lot. Like that Finnegan kid in Ron's year."

"You thought people might be setting themselves on fire and you didn't ask them what was going on?" said Lee.

"Thought it might be rude," admitted George.

"When has that ever stopped you? The other day you asked that first year if someone had cursed him because of his haircut."

"How was I to know?" said George, defensively. "To be fair, it was a pretty bad haircut."

"Come on, or we'll be late," said Lee, grabbing his bag and heading out of the room. Fred and George quickly followed suit.

The three boys covered their nose and mouths as they made their way through the Gryffindor Common Room. There was a long queue of sick students all waiting for Madam Pomfrey to administer various potions depending on their symptoms before they headed off to class.

"You're going to be late," said Lee to Angelina and Alicia waiting in the queue. The sound was muffled by his hand.

"Tell McGonagall we're just seeing Madam Pomfrey," croaked Alicia barely able to make herself heard. Angelina blew her nose into a handkerchief with a loud 'blort'.

The trio made their way through the school to their Transfiguration class as quickly as they could whilst doing their best to avoid interacting with any sick students. Although it turned out that it wasn't only the students who were becoming unwell. Along one hidden corridor which they regularly used to cut down their journey times between classes they found a figure hunched over on a chair. On closer inspection they realised that it was Filch. He seemed to be dozing while holding onto a mop. A bucket of dark murky water sat next to him.

"You alright Mr Filch?" said Lee, carefully approaching the caretaker.

"What?" snorted Filch. He opened his eyes which were bloodshot and watery. He looked around slightly disoriented before he focused in on the boys. He held his mop in front of himself in a defensive manner. "Aha! Trying to sneak up on me were you?"

"No," said George, stepping back to make sure he was out range of the mop. "We're just walking normally. No sneaking here."

"Oh," said Filch, forcing himself to stand. He swayed uncertainly for a few seconds before leaning on the mop to steady himself. "And how do you explain getting right up next to me without me noticing? You were sneaking."

"No, you were sleeping," explained Fred, pointing at the chair.

"Me? Sleeping? On the job? Now you're just lying," sneered Filch. He stopped talking for a moment and became a bit cross-eyed.

"Are you okay?" said Lee.

"I'm fine… I'm just…achoo." Filch let out an almighty sneeze that sent him back down onto the chair. A thin mist of spit erupted from his mouth and the boys did their best to jump back to avoid getting covered.

"I think you should see Madam Pomfrey," advised Lee, covering his nose and mouth with his hand.

"Nonsense," said Filch. He wiped his sleeve across his nose, a long wet snail trail of snot formed in its wake. "I'm never sick. Probably been cursed by one of you lot. It feels like a curse. Always hot and cold. My nose running like a tap."

"Sounds like a cold," said Fred. "Everybody has one at the moment."

"Colds are for students. Faculty don't get colds. And I'm faculty, so I can't have a cold can I?" snapped Filch. He closed his eyes and rubbed his eyelids before resting his arms on his chest. "You don't see Flitwick or the rest sneezing."

"That's probably because they just see Madam Pomfrey right away and get a supply of healthy potions for the whole term," said Fred, trying his best to reason with the caretaker. "You should really just ask her."

"Grrrrgggh," said Filch, remaining perfectly stationary in the chair.

"Filch?" said George after a few seconds.

"Grrrrgggh."

"I think he's asleep," said George. He waved his hand in front of the caretaker's face. "Hello? Filchy? Nothing."

"Oh look," said Fred, slightly louder than necessary while pointing down the corridor. "A student breaking a rule that would no doubt get him expelled." This brought no response whatsoever. "Huh, he's definitely asleep then."

"Should we just leave him here?" asked Lee.

"Of course not," said George. He carefully picked up the bucket of dirty water and placed it gingerly down onto Filch's lap. It wobbled for a few moments before George moved one of Filch's hands around to hold it in place. "There. Much better."

* * *

Despite the rain and wind, Quidditch practice continued without change, especially after Fred and George reported to Oliver just how good the new Slytherin team brooms were. Extra practices were ordered specifically designed to try and counter playing a team with superior equipment, but even this wasn't enough to give the team an optimistic outlook for their upcoming match. One welcome distraction came in the form of Halloween. The Great Hall had been decorated in carved pumpkin heads and a number of skeletons had been secured to the walls and enchanted by Flitwick to move and wave at the students as they passed.

"I'm telling you it's all about formation," said Oliver. He had sat himself down next to Angelina and Alicia at the Gryffindor table and had been talking to them and Katie, whom he had beckoned over, for the past ten minutes. "When you get the ball, keep it tight amongst yourselves; only pass if you have to so they don't get a chance to intercept. And when they have the ball, pull back and wait for them to try and pass, but only try and intercept if you are sure you'll get it."

"That's great and all Oliver but it doesn't really answer my question," said Alicia.

"Oh it doesn't…?" said Oliver, he thought for a few seconds before giving up. "Sorry, what did you ask again?"

"Can you pass me the potatoes?" said Alicia, pointing down the table.

"Oh. Yes, of course," said Oliver. He picked up a bowl of mash potatoes and handed them to the girl. "That reminds me. Watch out for off the Quaffle fouls. With the speed of their brooms I wouldn't put it passed them to try and take out other players while Hooch and everyone else are watching the Quaffle."

"How do mash potatoes remind you of that?" asked Angelina, taking the bowl from her friend once she was finished.

"Cos you might get mashed," said Oliver, pointing at the bowl.

"Okay, that actually makes sense," admitted Angelina. She looked over the table at Fred, George and Lee. "That, however, does not."

Fred and George both had their heads stretched looking upward and each had a boiled potato balanced on their forehead. They were both concentrating hard, while occasionally shoving each other in the shoulder to try and distract the other person.

"How else are we going to decide who is better at it?" asked Fred, trying to keep his eyes firmly fixed on his potato as he adjusted his head.

"Why don't you call it a draw and decide you're both idiots?" said Angelina.

"Where's the fun in that?" replied George. His potato wobbled uncertainly before rolling off the side of his head. "Ahh, damn it. Best two out of three?"

"No chance," said Fred, holding his potato aloft triumphantly. "Champion!"

The feast continued for another hour or so until everyone were too stuffed full of pumpkin flavoured desserts to even consider trying to take a bite of anything else. It didn't take long before all the students were filtering out of the Great Hall and heading back towards their Houses.

"Ughh," said Fred, holding onto his stomach in pain. "I shouldn't have had that last helping of pumpkin pie. I think there might have been something wrong with it."

"Really?" said Alicia. "You don't think it was the four previous helpings that might have been the problem?"

"Nah," said Fred, letting out a burp. "Nothing wrong with those. Oh sorry."

"Watch it," said Angelina, whom he'd bumped into. The whole procession of students had stop in the middle of a passageway. "What's the hold up?"

"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, mudbloods!" shouted someone from the front.

"What's going on here? What's going on?" demanded Filch, pushing his way through the crowd. None of Fred, George or Lee could see anything passed the taller, older students in front of them, but they could hear well enough. "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs Norris?" Filch's voice called out over the general murmur.

"You!" the caretaker screech, having obviously found the culprit. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll…"

"Argus!"

It was Dumbledore and a number of other teachers. They pressed their way through as the throng of students parted; Fred and George tried their best to look through the gap but were unable to see anything before it closed in the teachers' wake. A few seconds later Dumbledore, the teachers, and Filch pushed their way back through the students towards Lockhart's office.

"This way, this way," said Lockhart, acting as though none of the others knew where they were going despite having been at the school for years.

Fred, George and the others stood back to allow the adults by and gawped as they realised that heading to Lockhart's office along with the teachers were Ron, Harry and Hermione. Ron gave his brothers a scared looked as he went passed. The crowd immediately started hushed conversations amongst themselves. Fred and George pushed their way through to try and see what the fuss was all about. The floor was wet with a thin film of water over a large section, while on the wall in large foot-high red letters was written: _The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir, beware._

"Is that blood?" asked Angelina, finally having caught up with the boys.

"Looks like it," murmured Lee. He looked around at Percy, who was busy trying to usher the crowd towards their various Houses. "What was that about Filch's cat?"

"Potter did it," said a voice which turned out to belong to Draco Malfoy. "Filch caught him right here with the body. Hanging from that torch bracket."

"Yeah right," snorted Lee.

"Fine, don't believe me," sneered Malfoy. "But you'll see, Potter will be expelled for this."

"Idiot," said Lee, as Malfoy headed off flanked on both sides by his larger, and stupider, friends. "He was lying wasn't he Percy?"

"No time for gossip," said Percy, waving everyone along. "Back to your Common Rooms right this instant."

In the Common Room all the talk was about the message written on the wall. Everyone broke off into small groups and were talking in hushed tones.

"Anything?" said Fred, as Lee came back from chatting to a group of older students.

"Apparently Mrs Norris _was_ dead," he informed them, keeping his voice low. "And Harry, Hermione and your brother were either the first ones there or..."

"Or?" said George.

"Or they did it," said Lee, sheepishly. "I'm not saying that. Others are though."

"Everyone wants to kick that cat, but I don't think anyone would ever kill it," reasoned Fred. "Especially not Hermione, she's far too well behaved for that."

"To be honest if someone had told me someone had killed Mrs Norris, my first guess would have been you or George," said Lee. He looked at Fred's expression. "By accident of course, not deliberate. You know, you tried cursing her or something and it went wrong. That kind of thing."

"Any news?" said George, joining the pair.

"Yeah," said Fred, nodding at their friend. "Lee, here thinks the most likely people to have killed the cat were you or me."

"Makes sense," said George, nodding his head. "You are kind of… shifty."

"Oh cheers," said Fred. "Did you find anything out?"

"No, Ginny's upset though," said George, jerking his head towards his sister who was sat in the corner looking decidedly sad.

"She's a big cat lover," explained Fred to Lee.

"That and I think she's worried Harry might get expelled," said George.

"What about Ron?" asked Lee.

"I have no idea if he's worried Harry might get expelled."

"I meant isn't Ginny worried Ron might get expelled? You know, seeing as he's her brother."

"I doubt she'd be too fussed. I mean she fancies Harry, plus he's our Seeker, without him the team would be screwed. And Ron is… well… Ron."

A sudden hush fell over the room. The boys turned around and quickly worked out why. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had just entered through the portal. They stood at the entrance way while everybody just stared at them.

"So…." said George breaking the silence. "Did you kill Mrs Norris?"

"No, of course not," snapped Ron. "It wasn't us, and besides she's Petrified not dead."

"Petrified? Well that settles it then," said Fred. "No way you could have managed that. Probably would have cursed your own nose off if you'd tried it, although that might be an improvement. So you just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and people started blaming you. Now you know how me and George feel half the time."

"Half the time you actually did whatever people were blaming you for," said Lee. "And the other half of the time George did it."

"That's unfair… I mean it's probably true but it's still unfair," said George, indignantly.

"We just found her and the writing. It has nothing to do with us," said Harry. He looked around the room. Everyone was trying their best not to appear to be staring at him but were failing spectacularly. "I'm gonna head up."

"Yeah me too," said Ron. "See you guys later."

"So should we tell Miro about this?" George said thoughtfully after a few moments. "He did say to report anything weird, and this is pretty weird, even for Hogwarts."

"Couldn't hurt," said Fred, shrugging. "'Pretty weird, even for Hogwarts'. They should change that to the school motto."

* * *

"As you have already been told by owl several times, you are not allowed to see Mr Formby's office," said the goblin. "And just barging in here isn't going to change that."

Lexington and Miro had been stood in Gringotts main hall for the last half an hour arguing with various bank tellers and goblins trying their best to access the missing man's work place. Finally the head goblin had descended upon the pair to find out why his usually quiet bank was being disrupted.

"But he's missing," said Miro, folding his arms across his chest. "You do know he is missing right?"

"We have not been made aware of any missing persons investigations by the Ministry involving any of our employees at this time," said the goblin cautiously.

"So he's been turning up to work then?" said Lexington, noting how the goblin had carefully worded his response.

"I did not say that."

"So he's missing then?" asked Miro.

"Mr Formby's attendance record with Gringotts is entirely between himself and the Bank, and not party to any scrutiny from third parties," snapped the goblin. "Now, unless someone from the Ministry, conducting an _official_ investigation, has any questions then I will bid you good day and point you in the direction of the exit."

The goblin snapped his fingers and gestured towards the door. The two wizards standing guard at the entrance of the building slowly, and purposely, made their way forward.

"Very good," said Lexington, nodding his head towards the door at Miro. "Thank you for all your help. There is just one more thing… is this one of your keys? My old dear aunt passed away and I found this amongst her possessions."

"This?" said the goblin, taking the key and examining it for a few moments and handing it back. "Not one of ours."

"Oh well, never mind," said Lexington. "Good day."

The goblin mumbled under his breath and Miro wasn't sure if he was bidding them farewell or something much ruder. Either way the creature didn't move until both men had left the building.

"Well that was a waste of time," said Miro, once they were outside in the cold evening air.

"Yeah," agreed Lexington. "I didn't think we'd get anything out of them but thought we'd better try… oh my word I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

Lexington had accidentally bumped into a man walking up the steps to the Bank, knocking him down onto the ground.

"Quite alright," said the man as Miro helped him up. "Wasn't watching where I was going. Oh is this yours?"

The man bent over and picked up Mr Formby's key which had been dropped in the commotion. He looked at it for a few seconds before handing it back to Lexington.

"You won't get any luck with that key in there," said the man. "That looks like a security box key for a muggle bank."

"Really?" said Lexington, eagerly. "How do you know?"

"My wife's muggleborn," explained the man. "Has a few items stored at her local bank with a similar key. I keep telling her there is no safer place than Gringotts but she won't listen."

"Where is this muggle bank?" asked Lexington.

"Nearest bank is just down the road from the Leaky Cauldron," said the man. "But I doubt that key is from there. Muggles don't just have the one bank you know? There are loads, each with hundreds of branches."

"Thanks," said Lexington. The man gave them a little wave and headed into Gringotts. "Don't suppose you're muggleborn are you? Or you regularly travel to muggle areas?"

"Nope, and nope," said Miro, shaking his head. "Never really had the need. My parents live out in the countryside on their own and I just Apparate to where I need to go now."

"Yes I'm the same," agreed Lexington. "Last time I had to travel amongst muggles was a while ago but I don't think too much would have changed. This should be straight forward enough."

* * *

Claire Hadley had worked in the same branch of Hatfield Bank since leaving school a few years previous and had seen pretty much everything that could happen with customers, or so she thought. The actual request was pretty straight forward, someone had found a safety deposit box key and was trying to locate which bank it was for, but it was the individuals involved that were quite the puzzlement. There were two men in possession of the key and both were dress too weirdly that the only explanation was that they must have been off to a fancy-dress party except that it was just after ten o'clock on a Wednesday morning.

The younger of the two was wearing a bright neon pink tracksuit jacket that almost looked plastic while sporting a pair of multi-coloured rainbow trousers that, although held quite tight to the waist and ankles, flared out extremely wide in the middle around the legs. He never said one word during the whole matter but looked decidedly embarrassed throughout.

The older gentleman had an all leather bright red suit with a black belt and was very talkative however he used several phrases and words which were completely unfamiliar to Claire. Eventually, she was able to explain that the key wasn't one of theirs but if they tried some of the other banks one of them might be able to recognise the code embossed on the side. She watched as the two men exit the bank.

"Right, so we know it's not that bank," said Lexington. He looked over at his business partner. "I don't know why you're sulking."

"Look at us," hissed Miro, trying to attract no further attention. "We look nothing like the muggles."

"These were all the rage last time I was out around muggles," said Lexington, waving at their clothes. "Anyway we got what we came for. Let's try another one of the banks."

"Right now?" baulked Miro, shaking his head firmly. "No chance, I'm heading home to get changed first, and so should you."

"It is rather uncomfortable, I suppose," admitted Lexington, pulling at one trouser leg that had stuck to his skin. "Muggles are very weird aren't they?"

"They aren't the ones whose legs are squeaking."


	6. Chapter 6

For the next few days, the only thing of interest to talk about for the whole school was the attack on Mrs Norris. Filch had taken to patrolling the section of corridor where it had taken place, challenging anyone who dared try and use it to get around the school. Most people, including the twins, now used an alternative route but on the occasions when they forgot they saw Filch trying to scrub the message off of the wall with Mrs. Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover. However the cleaning product had no effect whatsoever and the foot high words still gleamed as brightly as ever on the stone. If Filch wasn't guarding the corridor he was instead jumping out at unsuspecting students and trying to put them in detention for unscrupulous rule breaking such as 'breathing loudly', 'looking happy', or 'being a Weasley'. The last of these crimes were generally reserved for Fred and George but sometimes Lee was threatened with it as well, something of which he actually found himself being rather proud.

'Who's the Heir?' was currently the most favourite question that was being bounced back and forth throughout the school. Most people had their own theories; some thought it was one of the first years on the basis that they were the only new students in the school and any of the other years would have opened it during _their_ first year at Hogwarts. Some thought it was one of seventh years who had waited until their last year in case they were discovered if they had opened it sooner. A few thought it might have been Gilderoy Lockhart due to his extensive knowledge and adventures. But the most overriding theory was that it was Harry himself who had opened the Chamber of Secrets.

"No chance it's Harry," said Angelina, she kept her voice low so as not to disturb anyone else in the Library, although this was unlikely given that they were far down the back of the room sitting at a small table between two of the huge book stacks. She was sat next to Alicia while across the table sat Lee and Fred. Although George had a seat he had elected to stand, leaning his back against one of the stacks whilst trying his best to juggle three books.

"Come on," said Lee, leaning forward. "He defeated You-Know-Who. Twice, if you believe what happened last year. It's got to be him."

"Well how do you explain what Binn's said?" countered Alicia, tapping her finger down on the wooden surface of the table.

"Which bit exactly?" said Lee.

"The bit about Salazar Slytherin?"

"Er…"

"Did you pay any attention when Alicia asked about the Chamber of Secrets?" asked Angelina, frowning.

"You asked about the Chamber?" said George, eagerly. Catching one of the thrown books mid-air and stopping his juggling attempts. "What did Binns say about that?"

"You were there," said Angelina, starting to raise her voice but lowering it quickly lest Madam Pince descended upon them in a storm of 'shushes'. She looked at each of the boys in turn. "All of you were there."

"Well…" said Lee, at least having the scruples to look a least a little bit sheepish.

"You were asleep again weren't you?" said Alicia, shaking her head.

"'As usual', we were asleep 'as usual'," corrected Fred, gesturing with his hands in the air. "By saying 'asleep again' makes it sound like we only sometimes sleep in History of Magic."

"So what did Binns have to say?" asked George, before either Alicia or Angelina could complain about the boys' nap habits and derail the conversation.

"He kept stressing it was only a rumour but basically Salazar Slytherin built the Chamber of Secrets with some kind of monster inside and that only his true Heir will have the ability to open it," explained Angelina, thinking back to one of the few times anyone actually paid attention to the History of Magic professor.

"I was talking to Hermione Granger earlier and she said Binns said the exact same thing to her year when they asked, except he said that the monster within the Chamber would be used to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic," confirmed Alicia, as she added her information for the group.

"Unworthy to study magic?" said Lee, frowning. "So, someone with really bad marks?"

"Well seeing as it was Salazar Slytherin's opinion on who was unworthy, I'm going to guess it meant muggleborns," reasoned Angelina.

"Thank Godric for that," said Lee, letting out a sigh. The others gave him a look. "What? My last Herbology mark was awful."

"You do know you're half muggle right?" said George slowly, just in case this news came as a shock to his friend. "So you'll still get attacked."

"Yeah I know, but I hang around with you lot all the time," said Lee, waving his hand dismissively at Fred and George. "So the monster probably wouldn't be able to tell us apart."

"Do you think it can smell purebloods or something?" said Angelina, raising her eyebrows.

"How else would it know?" said Lee, tapping the side of his head. "Unless it can read minds which I doubt it would be able to do."

"The monster is controlled by the Heir of Slytherin, if he or she knows you're not pureblood then they'd just tell the monster to attack you. And then," continued Angelina. She pulled her finger across her neck, like a knife, and grimaced as she pretended to be dead.

"Oh," said Lee, looking thoughtful for a few moments. He leant back in his chair, looked around, and raised his voice slightly. "I guess that's good news for me that both my parents were wizards."

"Flawless plan," deadpanned Alicia.

"Hang on," said George. He placed his three 'juggling' books down. "The school was built over thousand years ago, are there any creatures that can live that long?"

"Plenty, although not that many are dangerous. If it can live that long it can probably hibernate for long periods of time," said Angelina, leaning back in her chair and putting her hands behind her head.

"Like some dragons. They can go decades asleep," said Fred. "Charlie even said some of the bigger ones can sleep for over a hundred years."

"I think we'd notice a dragon knocking about the place," said Lee, making a face, and rolling his eyes.

"I didn't say it _was_ a dragon, I just said they can sleep a lot."

"Right," said Angelina, picking up her quill and putting a fresh piece of parchment down on the table. "What do we know so far? It can live for a long time and probably hibernates. Anything else?"

"It can Petrify cats," said Lee, as Angelina noted everything down.

"Not just cats, I'm pretty sure it'd scare the crap out of anything," said Fred.

"As in 'freeze them like a statue' you pleb," said Angelina, not looking up from her writing.

"Okay, that makes more sense," conceded Fred.

"Oh and water," said Alicia, tapping her finger on the parchment to indicate her friend should make a note. "There was loads of water on the floor of the corridor where Mrs Norris was found."

"And it can write in English," said Fred, eagerly trying to help. "What? There were words on the wall."

"You don't get to make suggestions anymore," said Angelina, pointing the end of her quill at the boy.

"Obviously that was written by the Heir, not the monster," said Alicia to Fred whilst shaking her head.

"Okay, so… lives long time, hibernates, can petrify things, has something to do with water. That doesn't give us much to go on," said Angelina, rubbing the end of the quill against her chin.

"You sound like you want to try and capture it," said George, grinning. He held his hands up when the girl looked at him. "I'm not saying that's a bad idea, I'm just saying that it's something that _we_ would normally suggest."

"If we know what it is then we can work out a way of protecting ourselves, plus it would probably help to narrow down where the Chamber is," explained Angelina.

"Well I can narrow it down a bit already," said Lee, crossing his arms. "What's near water and definitely has a link to Salazar Slytherin already? Slytherin House. It has to be in there."

"Kinda obvious don't you think?" said Alicia.

"Just because it's obvious doesn't make it wrong," said Lee. "Besides, if only the true Heir can open the Chamber then it doesn't really matter where it is."

"It does make sense I guess," admitted Angelina, underlining the word 'Heir' on her parchment. "His Heir is probably going to be a Slytherin; no one else would want to keep Hogwarts only for purebloods."

"Well that counts Harry right out then," said Lee. "His mum was muggleborn, plus he grew up with muggles, and he's a Gryffindor."

"My money's on that Malfoy kid," said George. "You heard what he called Hermione."

"Evil little git," commented Angelina with an angry look on her face.

"There you are," said a voice. The group looked up to see it was their fellow Quidditch team-mate, Katie Bell. "Oliver's been looking all over for you."

"Yeah we know," said Fred, grinning. He gestured at the stacks of library books surrounding their table. "Why do you think we're here?"

"It's the last place anyone would look for them," advised Angelina, nodding towards the twins. "I'm guessing the first place he looked for them was detention. Is he trying to get us to do more training?"

"Yes," nodded Katie, leaning against one of the stacks. "He's really worried about Slytherins' new brooms."

"I know," said Alicia, letting out a long sigh, "it's all he talks about. The sooner our match is over the better."

"You know he wants us to practice pretty much all day tomorrow already?" said Angelina, sounding incredulous. "I overheard him talking to McGonagall about it."

"But tomorrow is our Hogsmeade day," complained Alicia. "No way am I missing that, it's the last one for us before the end of term."

"You say that now, but you know what he's like," said Angelina, waving a hand in the air. "He'll practically start begging us to do extra practice, then he'll give us a dramatic speech hoping to inspire us, and finally it's the puppy dog eyes, and that's when you cave."

"I do not cave," said Alicia, defiantly. Her face softened after a couple of seconds. "He does have nice eyes though."

"Wait, seriously? That's all it takes? Puppy dog eyes?" said Fred. "So… can I borrow your Herbology homework?"

"What? No," said Alicia. She pointed at Fred after a few seconds. "What's… er… what's going on with your face?"

"I'm giving you puppy dog eyes."

"You're giving me 'desperately needing the toilet eyes'."

"Yeah you look weird," said George, looking at his brother's expression. "Try it like this."

"That's what I am doing," said Fred, pointing at his brother.

"To be fair you both now look like you want the toilet," admitted Lee, looking between his two friends. "Here do it like this. See? Sadder eyes."

"That's supposed to be sad eyes? You look like you do when you're trying to study," said George. "Although that could be the same I guess. Here, do it like this."

"Like this?" said Lee, trying to mimic his friend.

"Yeah that's it," said Fred, pulling the same face. The three boys were now showing each other what could only be described as pained grimaces.

"Finally, you found them," beamed Oliver popping his head around the corner of one end of the stacks. "I've been looking all over. Did Katie tell you the good news?"

"That Zonko's are offering up to fifty percent off in the run up to Christmas? I know, great isn't it?" said Fred, rubbing his hands together eagerly.

"No, I've managed to book the Quidditch pitch for practice on Saturday," said Oliver, waiting for the wave of joy to wash over the team at the exciting information. It was not forthcoming.

"Saturday is our Hogsmeade day," said Alicia, flatly.

"Right," nodded Oliver, still smiling.

"It means they don't want to train on that day," explained Katie after a few moments.

"But it's the last Saturday before the match," said Oliver frowning. "If we don't use the full day for training it'll be a waste."

"How about Sunday?" said George. He looked around at the rest of the team for their consensus. "We'll train on Sunday, and then that way us fourth years can still have our day at Hogsmeade. It's win-win. Except for the whole having to train on a Sunday after a hearty breakfast, so it's more like win-draw, or win-very-narrow-loss-but-we-can-be-proud-of-how-we-done."

"Can't. Slytherin has booked the pitch for Sunday," said Oliver, shaking his head.

"Wait, did you try and book the Sunday first, or as well as the Saturday?" asked Fred, suspecting he already knew the answer.

"Well two days training is better than one," said Oliver, looking around for support from the team.

"No," said Angelina firmly. "No training on Saturday. We'll just train in the week, after classes a couple of the nights."

"But we've the best team by far," said Oliver. "We should have easily won the Quidditch Cup last year but one of our team ended up in the Hospital Wing. The only reason Slytherin has a chance is because of those new brooms. What message does that send out to the rest of the school? It doesn't matter how good you are because if someone has the Galleons they can just buy their success? Is that was this game was founded on? Is that what this school stands for? Is that what we stand for?"

"Well that's the dramatic speech part completed," said Fred, nodding at Angelina. "Now, here comes the eyes."

"Damn it, I'm in," said George, after a few moments. He turned to address Alicia. "You're right. That's some good puppy dog eyes."

"Agreed," nodded Lee. "He could ask me to attack a unicorn, and with those eyes, I'd probably do it. I'm in too."

"You're not even on the team," said Fred, reminding his friend. "On the other hand I am, and I'm in as well."

"I need to do my shopping for Christmas," complained Alicia, looking as though she were wavering despite trying her best to remain strong.

"How about this," said George, leaning forward, "we train this Saturday and any time you want Fred and I will bring you into Hogsmeade?"

"What if we get caught?"

"Fred and I have pretty much been sneaking into Hogsmeade since the first year and we've only been caught a few times and even then we can generally talk our way out of it," said George. He looked over at his brother who made an expression that could be best described as 'meh'. "Mostly… sometimes…. occasionally…okay, three times we've talked our way out of it. I think. Give or take."

"Fine," said Alicia, after letting out a long sigh. "We'll train on Saturday." She pointed a finger at George. "And if we get caught sneaking into Hogsmeade you're dead."

"I've got to learn that eye thing," said Fred as the group slowly made their way out of the library. "Hey Alicia? Can I look at your Herbology?"

"Still looks like you need the toilet," advised the girl looking back over her shoulder.

Fred tried his best to perfect the look all the way back to Gryffindor Tower, where Alicia finally broke and said he could borrow her homework on the condition he never tried to do puppy dog eyes again.

"Told you I could get it to work," said Fred, grinning as he held up the girl's parchment.

"Annoying her into giving it to you isn't the same thing," said Lee. There was a sudden loud bang as someone slammed a heavy school book shut. Lee turned to see that it had be Ron, sitting with Harry and Hermione; all three had stern looks on their face. "What's up with your brother?"

"Well he's…" said Fred, looking across the table at George.

"Other brother," stated Lee, quickly.

"Ah, I'm guessing…" began Fred, spotting Percy sitting in the corner of the room.

"Youngest brother," reiterated Lee.

"Oh? Him? No idea," said Fred, shrugging his shoulders and looking over towards Ron. "Probably wind or something."

"Percy threatened to take House Points off of him and Harry," explained George. "Told me earlier."

"Why would he do that?" asked Lee.

"Cos I asked him why he had a moody face on."

"Percy, why would _Percy_ do that?"

"He caught Harry and Ron coming out of the girls' bathroom on the first floor," said George. "The one with Moaning Myrtle."

"I doubt I'd ever be desperate enough for the toilet to use that bathroom," admitted Lee, referring to the distinctly morose ghost of a young girl who haunted one of the bathrooms and was to be avoided at all costs unless you wanted to listen to someone complain about anything and everything.. "Probably just pick one of the vases in the corridor to go in instead."

"When you gotta go, you gotta go," nodded George.

True to their word the Gryffindor team found themselves on the Quidditch pitch bright and early the next day, well mostly bright and, for the majority of the team, mostly early.

"Sorry, sorry," said Fred, as he and George hurried down to the pitch, carrying their brooms over their shoulders. "Our alarm didn't go off."

"You don't have an alarm," said Angelina, propping herself up with her broom.

"How do you know?"

"Cos you're always late in the morning and I always say you should set your alarm, and then you say you don't have an alarm, then I say you should get one, and you say good idea but you never actually get one."

"I might have got one since the last time I was late," challenged Fred defiantly.

"Since yesterday morning?" said Angelina sceptically. "And have you?"

"That's not the point," said Fred dismissively. "The point is our alarm, which we may or may not have, didn't go off and that is why we are late."

"Actually you're right on time," said Oliver, smiling at the twins. "I told you to be here an hour early that way when you inevitably turned up an hour late, you would actually be on time."

"That is sneaky, devious, and dastardly behaviour," said Fred, counting off each point on his fingers. "And quite frankly I have never been more proud to call you my Captain than I am right now."

* * *

"See? I told you we'd find the right bank eventually," said Lexington, pushing he way through the revolving doors.

"Lucky for us we did, I was going to suggest we give up if the next couple turned up nothing. Although technically this isn't even a bank, which was why we weren't having any luck," said Miro, waiving his hand around the room.

Over the last few days the pair, this time dressed more normally, had visited several branches of several different banks and each time came away disappointed. Fortunately someone at the last bank recognised the design of the key and was able to point them in the direction of a specialised firm that only dealt with safety deposit boxes.

The door led into a large lobby which was decorated with expensive looking ornaments and artwork, while a plush carpet, resting on the marble floor, ran up the centre of the room.

"Just let me do the talking," said Lexington, looking around the room. "This place looks a bit on the posh side."

The two men approached a desk on the far side of the room, where an immaculately dress man in a black pinstriped business suit sat. He beamed a smile at them as they reach him.

"Hello sirs, how can I assist you today?"

"I was just wondering if this key could be used here," said Lexington, handing over the key.

"Ah yes," said the man, examining the markings on the side. "This is one of ours."

"Excellent," said Lexington, rubbing his hands together in triumph. "If you could just take us to the box in question."

"Of course," said the man. He tapped a few buttons on what looked to Lexington like a black plastic board with letters and numbers. "Once I see some identification."

"Identification?" replied Lexington.

"Yes, obviously I can't just take you to the box in question just because you have the key. I'll need to see some form of identification that confirms you are allowed access to the box."

"Ah yes, obviously," said Lexington, taking his wand out of his pocket. "Will this do?"

"I don't think…"

"Imperio…" said Lexington, pointing his wand at the man. His initial frowning face at the sight of the wand was quickly replaced with a serene expression. "Now, if you'd kindly bring us to where we can use that key."

"Of course," said the man, in a dreamy far away voice. "This way."

"The Imperius Curse? That's one of the Unforgivable Spells," whispered Miro as he and Lexington followed the man through a door at the back of the room.

"It's fine. I have a licence from the Ministry that allows me to use them. All Aurors do," explained Lexington, as the man brought them down a short corridor with several doors on either side. At one of them the man pressed a few numbers on a keypad and the door swung inward.

"But you're not an Auror anymore," said Miro, stepping into the room behind the man. Inside, lining the walls, were dozens upon dozens of small silver handles each with a slot for a key next to them.

"Yes, but they never specifically asked for the licence back," said Lexington. The man pushed the key into one of the locks and turned it before pulling back on the corresponding silver handle. The whole thing, handle included, formed a long metal box which the man placed on the table before stepping back to allow the pair access. "Right, let's see what we are looking at here."

The two wizards peered inside the box.

"Oh," said Miro. "That's not good."


	7. Chapter 7

The following Saturday Fred and George were up and dressed much earlier than usual. They had both woken at roughly the same time and lay awake in the room while the other occupants were still snoozing softly. Neither had had a particularly pleasant night sleep as the thought of facing Slytherin with their new brooms weighed heavy on their minds. Eventually, after having thrown all their pillows in an attempt to stop Lee's snoring, they made their way downstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast. It turned out that they weren't the only members of the team who had the same idea.

"Alright," nodded Oliver, picking up a spoonful of porridge and looking at it for a few moments before returning it to the bowl.

"Alright," said Fred and George, sitting down opposite their captain. Both helped themselves to a plate of food but neither were that hungry and mainly pushed their meals around their plates. The only words exchanged over the next half an hour or so were mumbled greetings to the rest of the team who eventually made their way down. Katie first, quickly followed by Angelina and Alicia together, with Harry finally making up the group.

Soon they were gradually joined by the rest of the school. Fellow Gryffindor students, along with their Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw counterparts, bid them good luck in the upcoming match but even their most passionate supporters were rather muted in their enthusiasm. To most it seemed that the game was a foregone conclusion, none more so than the Slytherin students who were already acting as though they had already won the Quidditch Cup itself.

As eleven o'clock rolled around, everyone started to make their way down to the Quidditch stadium. It was a dull overcast day with dark clouds that looked as though they might start thundering at any moment. Inside the locker room the team dressed into their Gryffindor Quidditch robes in silence before waiting for Oliver to deliver his usual pre-match talk.

"Slytherin has better brooms than us," he began. "No point denying it. But we've got better people on our brooms. We trained harder than they have, we've been flying in all weathers…"

"Too true," muttered George, "I haven't been properly dry since August."

"And we're going to make them rue the day they let that little bit of slime, Malfoy, buy his way onto their team," Oliver continued. He turned to address Harry directly. "It'll be down to you, Harry, to show them that a Seeker has to have something more than a rich father. Get to that Snitch before Malfoy or die trying, Harry; because we've got to win today, we've got to."

"So, no pressure, Harry," said Fred, flashing the second year a wink.

The team strode out onto the pitch the roars and cheers from Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws in attendance while a chorus of hisses and boos emanated from the Slytherins. Flint and Wood shook hands, both trying to stare down and intimidate the other. Madam Hooch blew her whistle and launched the Quaffle into the air starting the match.

It didn't take Fred and George long to realised something was wrong with one of the Bludgers. No matter where they hit, no matter how hard they hit, one particular Bludger continually tried to target Harry. Soon both the twins had to position themselves either side of the Seeker to try and protect him. They had no option but to signal for Oliver to call a time-out. To make matters worse, it had also started to rain.

"What's going on?" asked Oliver as the Gryffindor team huddled together. They could hear the Slytherin students jeering them. "We're being flattened. Fred, George, where were you when that Bludger stopped Angelina scoring?"

"We were twenty feet above her, stopping the other Bludger from murdering Harry, Oliver," said George angrily. "Someone's fixed it, it won't leave Harry alone. It hasn't gone for anyone else all game. The Slytherins must have done something to it."

"But the Bludgers have been locked in Madam Hooch's office since our last practice, and there was nothing wrong with them then…" said Oliver, anxiously.

"Listen," said Harry as Madam Hooch came walking towards the group, "with you two flying around me all the time the only way I'm going to catch the Snitch is if it flies up my sleeve. Go back to the rest of the team and let me deal with the rogue one.

"Don't be thick," said Fred. "It'll take your head off."

"Oliver, this is insane," said Alicia angrily. "You can't let Harry deal with that thing on his own. Let's ask for an inquiry…"

"If we stop now, we'll have to forfeit the match!" said Harry, cutting her off. "And we're not losing to Slytherin just because of a crazy Bludger! Come on, Oliver, tell them to leave me alone."

"This is all your fault," said George, pointing at Oliver. "'Get the Snitch or die trying,' what a stupid thing to tell him."

"Ready to resume play?" asked Madam Hooch, who had now joined the group.

"All right," said Oliver. "Fred and George, you heard Harry. Leave him along and let him deal with the Bludger on his own."

"Merlin's Beard," muttered George as the teams got ready to get play underway again. "I thought we were supposed to be the reckless ones."

"Just keep an eye on the other Bludger," said Fred, wiping his sleeve across his face which had become wet from the rain. "If that starts acting up then he's in big trouble. One Bludger is bad enough, but he'd never be able to dodge both at the same time."

Madam Hooch blew her whistle and everyone took to the sky once again. It was easier keeping an eye on only one Bludger, especially since this one acted normally. The game settled down mainly due to the rain making it harder for the players to see much without having to shield their eyes. Slytherin now held a commanding lead as they had pulled ahead whilst the twins had been distracted with the rogue Bludger.

"Keep it tight," barked Oliver, as the trio of Angelina, Alicia, and Katie passed the Quaffle amongst themselves.

Although Slytherin had the faster brooms it was obvious who had the better players. Flint and his two other Chasers were unable to intercept the passes between the three girls despite their quickness, while the opposing Beaters were no match for Fred and George now that they only had one Bludger to worry about.

"Careful Fred," shouted George.

Fred, who had been gazing upward to where Harry was doing his best to dodge the rogue Bludger, looked down in time to be able to avoid the second Bludger by deflecting it away with his bat.

There was a sudden wave of shouts from the crowd while a few of them pointed into the sky. Looking up George could see Harry plummeting down whilst holding onto his broom awkwardly. The Seeker landed badly with a splattering thud before rolling off onto the ground, he looked in pain with one arm bent at an ugly unnatural angle. A cheer rose up from the majority of the spectators once they spotted the Golden Snitch shimmering in his good hand. The boy's body went limp as he passed out.

"Watch out," warned Fred, darting forward on his broom. The rogue Bludger was shooting out of the sky aiming directly for the prone body of Harry.

Fred arrived just in time to hit the Bludger away from his friend, and the metal ball bounced along the ground as everyone rushed towards Harry. The Bludger started to rise up from the ground but George was already on top of it, diving from his broom mid-air and trying to pin it down. Soon Fred joined him and the two boys struggled to get the Bludger back into its box. Even after they had secured it into place the ball continued to try and break free and head towards Harry. Madam Hooch put the Quaffle and the other Bludger back into the box, closed the lid, and with a swish of her wand locked it up tight.

A crowd had gathered around Harry, and Fred and George tried to push their way through the group but everyone was trying their best to see what was happening. There was a click and flash of light as someone took a photo.

"That was mental," said Lee, joining the twins.

"Yeah," nodded Fred. He pointed back towards the box that contained the Quidditch balls. "Someone jinxed a Bludger to go after Harry."

"I thought so," said Lee. "It looked pretty obvious that it was targeting him from the moment the match started. McGonagall is furious. Harry was lucky he only broke one arm."

"He actually broke it?" asked Fred. "I was too busy trying not to let the Bludger kill him to notice."

"Yeah, looked pretty bad," said Lee. "But Pomfrey will have him fixed up in no time."

"Eww," chorused the crowd while someone continued to take picture after picture. The group slowly dispersed and the twins could see that Harry was making his way off of the pitch along with Ron and Hermione.

"What was that about?" asked George, as Angelina joined them.

"Lockhart tried to fix Harry's broken arm, and well…" she looked a little green. "He sort of removed all the bones instead. His arm went all floppy like a worm."

"Okay, that sounds pretty cool to be honest," said George.

"He's lucky only his bones went missing," said Fred. Although everyone had been excited when the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher had started, they quickly realised that he'd rather spend entire lessons talking about himself than actually teach them anything useful. He had been at the school for a few months, but it wasn't until Angelina had pointed out after their previous lesson that they'd realised he hadn't actually taught anyone in their year a single new spell.

"Did you see that?" exclaimed Oliver beaming from ear to ear. "One handed catch with a broken arm. Amazing."

"Amazing?" snapped Angelina, jabbing her captain in the shoulder with the end of her broom. "He could have been killed."

"I know," said Oliver, rubbing his shoulder in discomfort. "But it was his choice to continue the match."

"Oh no," said Angelina, wagging her finger. "'Win or die trying,' those were your exact words. Of course he was going to continue playing."

"Okay, I should probably tone down my pre-match comments," said Oliver. "I know something that will make you feel better though."

"Yeah? What?" said Angelina defensively.

"That," said Oliver, pointing behind the girl.

The group turned around to see Flint screaming at Malfoy whilst flailing his arms in the air. The Slytherin captain was so livid that it was difficult to make out exactly everything he had said but the general gist was that Malfoy had been too busy shouted insults at Harry during the match that he missed the Snitch when it practically landed on his head.

"Yes," nodded Angelina, as Malfoy's face slowly turned red from embarrassment. "That does make me feel better."

The team had decided to pay Harry a visit in the Infirmary, with a quick detour to the kitchens to collect cakes, sweets, and bottles of pumpkin juice, but Madam Pomfrey had swiftly ushered them out of the room with the insistence that Harry needed to get a good deal of rest. The team were in a celebratory mood and, with little convincing, they brought all the supplies they needed up to the Common Room where the rest of Gryffindor House had already started to party.

"Speech! Speech! Speech!" chanted the students once all the food and drink had been deposited onto to tables.

"They said they had better brooms, and they'd wipe the floor with us," said Oliver, standing up onto one of tables in the middle of the room whilst holding a goblet filled with pumpkin juice. "They said they'd humiliate us. They'd say we'd be sorry to even set foot on the Quidditch pitch with them. And do you know what we said back? We said…" Oliver looked around the room and held up his goblet, causing some of the liquid to spill out over the sides. "…fudge that."

"Fudge that?" said Fred in the ensuing silence.

"There are first years around," said Oliver pointing towards the youngest group in the room, "so have to watch the language."

"Fair enough," shrugged Fred. He raised his own glass. "Fudge that!"

"Fudge that!" chorused the room, with a smattering of laughter.

"Fudge Slytherin!" added Fred with gusto.

"Fudge Slytherin!"

"Fudge cakes!"

"Fudge cakes!"

"No, I mean actual fudge cakes, I didn't realised we'd got some of these," said Fred, pointing at the table of food. He picked up one cake, took a large bite, and then held it aloft. "Fudge cakes!"

"Fudge cakes!"

The partying went on for the rest of the day, through lunch and dinner, and late into the evening. Fred and George, along with the rest of the team, stayed in the Common Room long after everyone else had gone to bed, continuing to gorge themselves on the various treats they have brought up after several visits down to the kitchen.

"Urgh, I think I ate too much," said George, lying back in one of the twin seated sofas and rubbing his stomach.

"I did warn you," advised Angelina letting out a prolonged yawn. "I said 'don't eat all those doughnuts', but did you listen?"

"You said 'don't eat them all'? I thought you said 'doubt you can eat them all'," said George, squirming before letting out an impressively large burp.

"Why would I say that? When have you ever needed encouragement to eat a doughnut or a cake or a custard tart?"

"There are custard tarts?" said George hopefully. He leaned up on his elbows and looked at the empty table before slumping back in disappointment. He looked at Angelina. "What? There's always room for custard tarts."

Angelina looked over at Katie and Alicia and shook her head.

"I could go for a custard tart," admitted Alicia.

"Ha! See?" said George, triumphantly. "Could you pick me up a couple?"

"I said I 'could' not that I 'would'," said Alicia.

"Aw come on Alicia," complained George. "Do it for the team. Oliver, will you tell her to go for the good of morale?"

George turned to look over at their fearless captain who was sat next to him on the sofa but found that Oliver was fast asleep.

"Yeah Alicia, go get some custard tarts." said George using a finger to pull on Oliver's bottom lip up and down whilst attempting an extremely poor approximation of the boy's accent. "See? Oliver thinks you should go."

"I'll go with you," said Fred, forcing himself out of his chair. He turned to his brother. "Just as long as you promise never to try that accent again."

"That wasn't me, that was Oliver," said George. He pulled on his captain's lip once again. "Yeah, George is right. Would anyone like me to sing a song?"

"Leave him alone," said Alicia, standing up and slapping George's hand away. "I'll get some custard tarts but don't complain when you're getting sick later."

"I won't complain," said George as Fred and Alicia made their way to the portrait. "I'll be too busy getting sick for that."

"I would ask 'how do you put up with him', but you're just as bad," said Alicia, as they made their way out of the Fat Lady's portrait and into the corridor.

"Hey, I didn't eat all those doughnuts did I?"

"Is that because you didn't want to overstuff yourself or because George grabbed them first?" said Alicia, raising an eyebrow.

"I'd rather not say now," admitted Fred indignantly.

The pair walked in silence until they reached the Grand Staircase. They started to climb down the steps when the stairs they were on suddenly lurched to one side as it changed position. The unexpected motion caused Alicia to stumble slightly as she lost her balance and she ended up entirely missing the next step. Fortunately Fred reached out to grab her as she fell, unfortunately the reason he grabbed her was because he too had slipped on the stairs and had been trying to hold onto her for support. The pair held onto each other as they careened down the stairs eventually coming to a rolling stop on the next landing.

"I hate this school," groaned Fred, lying on his back. Alicia was on top of him with his arms still wrapped around her.

"What's wrong with having normal stairs that stay where they are supposed to?" mumbled Alicia as her head rested on Fred's chest. The pair seemed to realise that she was lying on top of him at the same time. "Oh sorry."

"That's okay," said Fred disconcertedly, as Alicia quickly stood up. She held out a hand to help him. "Thanks."

"You okay?" asked Alicia, rubbing her right shoulder that had taken the brunt of her fall.

"Me? Yeah, nothing wrong," said Fred, dusting off his trousers. "You?"

"Bit bruised but nothing worse than I usually get from a light training session with Oliver."

"Yeah, I'm surprised he hasn't added rolling down the stairs as an exercise to toughen us up," said Fred, as they continued to make their way down. This time they both used one hand on the bannister to steady themselves.

It didn't take them long to reach the Kitchen where they were greeted by the excited faces of the school's House Elf population, who were more than happy to pile custard tarts into Fred and Alicia's waiting arms. Eventually Fred just asked if any of them had a spare bag he could use to carry the treats and one was quickly procured from the supply room which made things much easier, as he didn't particularly want to leave a trail of dropped custard tarts all the way back to the Common Room. The added advantage of the bag meant they were able to eat one of the treats each as they walked.

Fred and Alicia elected to take a different route up to Gryffindor Tower since neither of them wanted to run the risk of failing down the stairs again when they inevitably moved. Instead they used a series of hidden corridors which had smaller tight single floor spiral staircases that they had to go up one behind the other. It was along one of these corridors they heard a shrieking sound from one end which caused them both to stop in their tracks.

"Weeeee," shouted Peeves the poltergeist, flying through the air towards them. Just before he would have passed through them he stopped and held out something. "Here you go."

"Er… thanks?" said Fred, taking the offered item instinctively. It turned out to be a bucket half filled with what looked like green paint.

"Don't mention it," said Peeves, floating upward through the ceiling.

"What was that about?" said Alicia, looking up at the spot through which Peeves had disappeared. She looked down at the bucket. "And why give you that?"

"I think I have an idea," said Fred, quickly looking up and down the corridor trying to make sure he knew his exact whereabouts.

"Who did this?!" shouted Filch's unmistakable voice coming from the direction Peeves had first appeared.

"This way," ordered Fred, dropping the bucket onto the floor and taking out his wand. The bucket toppled over onto the ground and sent a long river of green paint spilling out onto the stone.

He tapped his wand against one of the floor to ceiling tapestries on the wall which had an image of a large waterfall cascading down the side of a mountain. Immediately the water on the on the tapestry parted like a curtain and Fred jumped through the opening before dragging Alicia in behind him where they was a small enclosed space in which they could barely fit. Fred waved his wand at the back of the tapestry and the water closed back over leaving them completely in the dark.

"Lumos," said Fred. He blinked a few times as he got used to the light. He tried to look around the alcove but there was nothing else to see. He was wedged up against Alicia, practically nose to nose, with very little room to move.

"Who…"

"Shh," said Fred quickly, keeping his voice low. "It's Filch."

"Bloody students," said Filch, whose voice was muffled by the tapestry. "Where did they even get paint from? Better check the stores after this. It's everywhere. Take me ages to clean this up."

The caretaker continued to grumble to himself just the other side of the fabric, while Fred and Alicia stood in silence hoping he would leave as quickly as possible.

Fred rolled his eyes as Filch launched into one of his usual speeches about punishing students with the rack or some such medieval torture device which had long been banned at the school. Alicia went to laugh but caught herself just in time and had to bite on her lower lip to try and stifle her giggles.

A small bit of movement in the wand-light caught Fred's eye and he looked up to notice a small spider dropping down from the ceiling on a thin stream of webbing just above Alicia's head. He reached up and carefully brushed it to one side before it landed in the girl's hair.

 _Spider_ – mouthed Fred silently explaining as the girl frowned.

 _Thanks_ – Alicia replied, smiling slightly.

 _Should I let her know she has custard on her lip?_ – thought Fred, spotting the remnants of one of the tarts lingering around the girl's mouth. Before he could say something they heard Filch stomping away down the corridor complaining about having to go and get a mop and bucket.

"We should go before he comes back," advised Fred. He tapped the back of the tapestry and waited for the waterfall to part once again.

"Yeah sure…" said Alicia, coughing slightly.

"Dusty things," agreed Fred as he stepped out into the corridor. "I would suggest that Filch clean them but he very rarely listens to me."

The two fourth years made their way back up to Gryffindor Tower as quickly as they could. Outside the Fat Lady's portrait they bumped into one of the first years who Fred recalled was called Kevin or Colin who said he was on his way to visit Harry in the Infirmary to bring him some grapes. Fred warned him about Filch sulking about the school and gave the boy the safest route to use to minimise his chances of getting caught.

"You took your time," said George, as they entered the Common Room. He was sitting in the same place along with Angelina, Katie, and a still sleeping Oliver.

"Yeah, Filch almost got us. We had to hide until the coast was clear," said Fred, dropping the bag full of custard tarts down onto the table.

"I'm kinda tired," said Alicia, letting out a yawn that seemed a bit exaggerated. She caught Angelina's attention and nodded towards the stairs.

"Yeah me too," said Angelina, she prodded Katie in the ribs. "You coming too?"

"Oh yeah, sure," said Katie, jumping up from her seat and following the two older girls. "Night guys."

"Night," said Fred and George, waving to the girls before taking a custard tart each.

"That's the stuff," said George, taking a bite from the treat and snuggling down into his chair in front of the fire. "Do you think anyone would mind if I brought my blanket down and slept here tonight? I swear my bed is nowhere near as comfy as this."

"Night guys," said Katie.

"Night," replied Fred and George's from the Common Room

"So what's up? Anything strange happen?" said Angelina as the three girls climbed the steps up to the dormitories.

"Yeah, actually there was something a bit weird," admitted Alicia. She stopped on the stairs and turned to talk to the others. She kept her voice low, "I think Fred likes me."

"What do you mean likes you? As in he _likes_ you?" said Angelina, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, I think so," nodded Alicia.

"Did he say something?" said Katie, sounding a little excited.

"No… it was weird. We had this… moment," said Alicia. She shook her head. "I'm probably wrong."

"Just tell us what happened," said Angelina.

"We were hiding from Filch in this small space behind a tapestry," explained Alicia. "There was hardly any room so we were squished together, and out of nowhere he sort of strokes my hair."

"He stroked your hair?" said Angelina, frowning.

"Yeah," nodded Alicia. "Really gently, and then he said… well mouthed because we were being quiet… he mouthed 'nice hair'."

"'Nice hair'?" said Angelina, considering the statement for a moment. "That does actually sound like something he thinks would make a good compliment. Was that it?"

"No," said Alicia, blushing slightly.

"What?" said Katie. "Come on, what?"

"I think he was going to kiss me."

"Oh my god," exclaimed Katie in surprise, causing the other girls to shush her. She dropped her voice back down to a whisper. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah after the whole 'nice hair' comment, he looked down at my lips and had this sort of expression on his face like he was trying to decide if he should do something. But then Filch went stomping off so we escaped when we could."

"So… do you like him back?" asked Katie, trying not to smile.

"I don't know," said Alicia, shrugging her shoulders. "Never really thought about him like that."

"Are you sure?" said Angelina.

"Yeah, why?"

"Cos you're smiling."

"Am I?" said Alicia, holding her hand up to her mouth instinctively.

"You and Fred eh?" said Angelina chuckling slightly, as the girls started up the stairs once again.

* * *

"So what's up? Anything strange happen?" asked George.

"Nope," replied Fred, leaning back in the armchair and sticking his feet up onto the table.


	8. Chapter 8

The twins rose late the next day as they tended to do every Sunday, so they expected the Common Room to be busy by the time they were washed and dressed, however they didn't expect it to be quite so full. It seemed that the whole of Gryffindor House was downstairs chattering amongst themselves whilst looking rather worried.

"What's going on?" asked George, accosting one of the fifth year prefects.

"There was another attack last night," explained the prefect. "One of ours this time: Colin Creevy."

"The first year?" said Fred. He held his hands up as though he were holding an imaginary camera. "Always taking pictures?"

"Yeah, Dumbledore found him in one of the corridors. Completely Petrified," the prefect nodded towards the portrait. "I've got to go. McGonagall's holding a meeting for the prefects, probably letting us know what's going on."

"Right, cheers," said Fred. He turned to George once the older boy had left. "This is my fault."

"You're fault?" said George, frowning. " _You_ Petrified Colin?"

"No, but me and Alicia saw him on the way back from the kitchens. He said he was going down to visit Harry in the Infirmary and I gave him the best direction to go to avoid Filch. If I hadn't done that he would have gone a different route and he wouldn't have been attacked," said Fred, looking decidedly pale.

"You don't know that," said George. "He might have been attacked anyway in a different part of the school and this time Dumbledore might not have found him and who knows what might have happened to him then. There are worse things than being Petrified."

"Didn't think of it like that."

"Exactly, you probably might have even saved his life by sending him the way you did," said George supportively.

"What's going on?" asked Angelina, who had just come down the stairs with Alicia.

"Hi Fred," said Alicia.

"Hello," replied Fred, frowning slightly.

"They're all talking about last night," explained George.

"What?" said Alicia quickly. She looked between George and Fred. "Nothing happened last night. Why would they be talking about anything that happened?"

"Yeah, when we went down to get the custard tarts, remember?" said Fred.

"What would I need to remember about that?" stammered Alicia, slowly starting to blush.

"We bumped into that Colin kid from the first year. Turns out after we left him he was attacked."

"Oh, right," said Alicia, calming down slightly. "Wait, he was attacked? By who? Filch?"

"Not unless Filch has learnt how to Petrify students," said George. He thought for a moment. "And let's hope that never happens, cos we all know who he'd use that on first."

"Which one's Colin?" asked Angelina, she looked over to the corner of the room to where the rest of the first years were huddled together.

"You know," said George, waving his hand in the air, "short, blonde, always following Harry around trying to get a picture."

"Oh… Cameraboy?" said Angelina. "What? That's what I call him."

Once the news of Colin had reached the Gryffindor's it didn't take long for it to filter out to the other Houses and come Monday morning there wasn't a single person in the school who didn't know. Everyone was paranoid and suspicious as various rumours spread throughout Hogwarts. First years moved about the castle in close-knit groups, convinced they'd be attacked in seconds if they were by themselves.

Ginny in particular was distraught about Colin. She sat next to him for her Charms lessons and had quickly bonded with the boy over their mutual appreciation for Harry. Fred and George decided to try their best to cheer her up by covering themselves in fur or boils and jumping out at her from behind suits or armour or around corners. They only stopped when Percy threatened that he would tell their mum that their antics were giving Ginny nightmares.

Away from the teachers' watchful gazes an underground black market of protection amulets, lockets, and talismans had sprung up overnight in as students attempted to guard themselves against danger. At the forefront of this highly suspect, and definitely unsanctioned, business were Fred and George, who were only too happy to help their fellow students feel safe whilst at the same time make themselves a little bit of money. They did their business down at the bottom of the stacks in the library while Lee kept watch for Madam Pince.

"This looks like any old stone," complained a first year while examining what George had assured him was an ancient protective personal shield.

"Of course it looks like any old stone," said Fred, knowing full well it was one of the handfuls of stones that he and his brother had picked up earlier from the lakeshore. "That's the point of a rebound amulet. If someone recognises it then they'll find some other way to attack you. This way they'll attack you and it'll rebound back onto them and you can escape."

"If it's so good why are you selling it?" asked the first year suspiciously.

"Well myself and George there come from a long line of purebloods," said Fred, nodding over at his brother. "Everyone who's anyone knows it's only those who have at least one muggle parent that are in trouble. So we're safe."

"How do I know it even works?"

"Give it here," said Fred, snatching it out of his hand and turning to his brother. "Come on George, let's give him a demonstration."

George took his wand out and aimed it at his brother. "Transfrogallo."

There was a bright flash and a second later George had been transformed into small green frog. Fred took his own wand out and waved it at his brother. There was another flash and George was restored to his former glory.

"Is that good enough for you?" asked Fred, holding the stone out on the flat of his palm.

"It's a bit expensive," said the boy reluctantly. "That's basically the rest of my allowance this term."

"Hey that's fine," said Fred, closing his fingers around the stone. He went to put it back into his pocket. "You're probably going to be fine anyway. As long as you stick together with your friends you'll be okay."

"Right," nodded the boy. "Thanks."

"I mean," continued Fred before the boy could leave, "that's what Colin thought…"

"Right," said the boy, stopping in his tracks. After a few moments of indecision he put his hand into his pocket and pulled out some coins. "Here. And you're sure it'll work for me."

"Oh yes," said Fred, taking the money and giving the stone to the boy. "Just remember it only works if you believe it is going to work. You believe, don't you?"

"Oh yes," said the boy, sounding a little bit uncertain.

"Are you sure?" said Fred. "Cos you don't sound sure."

"Oh I'm sure. Definitely sure," nodded the boy.

"George," said Fred, stepping to one side.

"No, wait…" said the boy as George aimed his wand at him.

"Transfrogallo," said George.

The boy opened one eye once he heard a faint croaking sound. He looked down at George who was back to being a frog before patting his own body to check he hadn't been effected.

"Satisfied?" asked Fred, as he pantomimed performing a counter-curse on his brother.

"Yeah," said the boy looking delighted. He stuffed the stone into his pocket and grabbed his bag from the ground. "Cheers."

"Transfrogallo?" said Fred, turning to his brother once the first year had left.

"What? It worked didn't it," said George.

"Still can't believe you have that thing," said Lee, pointing at the wand.

"This thing?" said George, holding up the trick wand he'd got from his Uncle Enoch a few years previously that at a flick turned the wand holder into a frog for a few seconds. "Worth its weight in gold this is."

"Speaking of gold," said Fred, taking all the money they had made that afternoon from his pockets.

"Not a bad haul," said George, pocketing his share once they had divided up the money.

"Might be able to get you a decent Christmas present this year," advised Fred, addressing his brother. "I mean… I won't, but still…"

"You guys heading into Hogsmeade this weekend?" asked Lee, as they started making their way out of the library.

"Yeah," said George, "gonna try and get our Christmas shopping done. You coming?"

"Na," said Lee, shaking his head. "I don't really need to pick much up for anyone. Maybe something for you two idiots. I was going to do the shopping when I get home."

"Oh you're not staying at Hogsmeade?" asked Fred.

"No chance," scoffed Lee. "My mum's a bit clingy since I'm an only child. My dad could barely convince her to let me come to Hogwarts in the first place. There's no way she'd let me stay here over Christmas."

"We're staying," said Fred. "Mum and dad visited Charlie last year, so they're going to stay with Bill this year. He doesn't have the room for all of us."

"He _says_ he doesn't have room for all of us, but I think he just wants to keep us out of his house," said George. They waved to Madam Pince as they made their way out of the library. The Librarian subtly, but quickly, made her way down towards from where the boys had come. Intuition and experience telling the woman that she needed to check that nothing was out of place, or worse damaged.

"So you two are going," said Lee, as they started to make their way up to Gryffindor Tower. "What about the girls?"

"What about them?" asked George.

"Weren't you supposed to bring Alicia into Hogsmeade for her Christmas shopping?" said Lee, reminding the twins of the agreement they had made prior to the match against Slytherin.

"Oh yeah, completely forgot about that," said Fred. "Should probably ask her if she wants to go. Although George can do that, she's being really weird with me lately. She's hardly talking to me and when she does she dashes off as quickly as she can."

"How is that any different than normal?" asked Lee.

"Fair enough," shrugged Fred.

That Saturday, just after an early lunch, Fred and George waiting downstairs on the ground floor next to a mirror behind which was one of the several secret passageways the boys used to travel to Hogsmeade.

"About time," complained George, as Angelina and Alicia made their way around the corner.

"We were making sure we weren't followed," said Alicia, keeping her voice low. She kept looking over her shoulder.

"Oh right," said George nodding. Suddenly he called out, "hey! Anyone there?"

"Why would you do that?" hissed Angelina, punching the boy on the arm. "What if Filch or someone heard you?"

"Relax," said Fred, as the cold air fogged his breath. "Filch is down in the greenhouses annoying Sprout about the Mandrakes. All the other teachers are staying somewhere warm. No one will catch us."

"How can you be sure?" asked Angelina.

"Cos they haven't yet," explained George. He took out his wand and turned around to face the mirror. "Prodigium. Right, follow me."

"Follow you where?" asked Alicia.

"Through here," said George, stepping into the mirror. The surface wobbled for a moment as he pushed through before snapping back into place.

"Urgh," said Angelina as she pressed her finger against the mirror and it slowly absorbed the end. "It's cold."

She gasped as George's hand suddenly appeared through the mirror, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her through to the other side. George's head then poked through the surface.

"You coming or not?"

"It's perfectly safe," said Fred, as he noticed Alicia's reservations.

"Safe for you doesn't mean safe for everyone," replied Alicia, however she did eventually step through the mirror, albeit with her eyes closed.

"Told you," said Fred, stepping through after the girl.

"You never said it would be quite so… dingy," said Alicia, looking around the passageway. She took out her wand and illuminated the end to get a better view.

"It's a tunnel to Hogsmeade," said Fred, doing the same with his wand. "What did you expect? A red carpet?"

"I dunno," said Alicia, shrugging. "Something a bit… less like a giant rabbit hole."

"Should we put in a carpet?" said George, as he led the group towards the village. "Maybe not a red one but something fancy to spruce up the place?"

"How about a couple of chandeliers while you're at it?" added Angelina.

The foursome took an hour or so to make their way to Hogsmeade. The exit to the tunnel was in the post office and once they checked that no one was around they stepped through and made their way outside. It was very cold and a thin carpet of snow was spread out over the ground with a few large brown tracks created by people walking through the village.

"Right," said George, rubbing his hands together and turning to address the others. "Where to first?"

"Shouldn't we be sneaking around a bit more?" said Alicia, looking around while holding the hood of her coat tight around her head. "Won't a teacher spot us?"

"Nah," said Fred. "We checked before we left, all the teachers are up in the castle, and the shop owners don't care if we're supposed to be out or not, just as long as we are spending money."

"Oh right," said Alicia, pushing her hood back. "Well I guess I need to go to Gladrags and pick something up for my mum. Maybe Dervish & Banges for my dad. And then something for my brother, Zonko's or Honeydukes for that I'm guessing."

"Sounds good," said George, nodding his head. He pointed towards the Three Broomsticks. "We're just going to Honeydukes and Zonko's. So we'll probably grab a Butterbeer afterwards. We'll meet you in there."

"Actually," said Angelina. "I really want to try some of Madam Puddifoot's mince pies; apparently they are much better than the ones we get at Hogwarts. How about we meet you in there in about an hour?"

"Right you are, see you then," said Fred, looking down at his wrist for a watch before remembering he didn't own one. He looked around until he spotted a clock on the wall on the outside of the post office. "An hour. So where shall we go first? Zonko's or Honeydukes?"

"Sorry, what? I didn't hear anything after 'mince pies'. Seriously? Better than Hogwarts? This I have to see," said George. He finally looked at his brother. "What? Oh, sorry. Er… Zonko's?"

The boys wandered through Hogsmeade and towards the brightly coloured shop which had a large window display. They stayed inside for a while looking through all the new products that had been brought in for Christmas before picking up a few items as presents and to replenish their own supplies of Dungbombs and Stink-pellets. They chatted for a while with the owner of the shop; a short round man with bright rosy cheeks and a hearty warm laugh which he used liberally during their conversation. He even gave them a couple of samples of things since he told the boys that they were probably his best customers.

After Zonko's they went to Honeydukes where they picked up a few Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans for the journey home as well as some other sweets for Christmas presents. By the time they had left the sweetshop it had started to snow quite heavily, so they retreated to Madam Puddifoot's while they waited for the girls.

The tea shop was located on a side road off the High Street. It was a small shop with far too many tables and chairs which made it quite awkward for Fred and George to manoeuvre through even though they were the only customers. They sat down at one of the larger tables in the window.

"What can I get you, m'dears?" asked Madam Puddifoot. She was a short but stout woman with a shiny black bun on top of her head and a kind smiling face.

"Oh we're just waiting for our friends at the moment," said Fred. "They'll probably want something as well, but I'll have a cup of tea and some mince pies if you've got any."

"Yeah, me too," said George.

"Tea and pies, coming right up," said the lady, disappearing off into the kitchen.

"There they are," said Fred, nodding his head towards the outside where Alicia and Angelina were making their way towards the door laden down with paper bags in each of their hands.

"Got everything you needed?" commented George as the girls came into the shop and put their bags down next to the table.

"Yeah, you do know you have to carry these all the way back to school," said Fred, leaning over and using a hand to open the top of one of the bags. His hand was quickly slapped away by Angelina. "Ow."

"Don't be so nosey," said Angelina. "Those aren't for you."

"Oh," said Fred, looking over at the other bags. "Which ones are for me?"

"None of them you dope," said Angelina, shaking her head. She looked over her shoulder as Madam Puddifoot returned with a tray containing a pot of tea, two cups, and a plate of mince pies. "Did you already order?"

"Yeah, I'm not missing out on mince pies," said George, as the items were placed on the table. "Thanks."

"Same for us thank you," said Alicia.

"Of course, m'dears," said Madam Puddifoot, giving the girls a smile.

"Go on," sighed George and waving a hand towards the plate of mince pie which Angelina had been eyeing greedily since their arrival.

"Nice, thanks," said Angelina. She picked up the closest pie and took a large bite. "Oh my god, that's good."

"Here you go," said Madam Puddifoot, placing two more cups and another plate of mince pies down onto the table. "You four make such cute couples."

"Oh…" said George, as Fred nearly spat out his tea and Angelina started choking on her mince pie.

"We're not…" began Alicia before she broke off her sentence to slap Angelina on the back.

"Thanks," said Angelina through gasps of air.

"Enjoy your tea," said Madam Puddifoot, retreating back to the kitchen whilst humming a cheery tune to herself. She left an awkward silence in her wake.

* * *

"I don't understand," said Mrs Formby, looking at the item sat on Lexington's desk. It was book. "You can't read it?"

"Can't read it, can't even open it," said Lexington, picking up the book and trying to pry the pages apart. He dropped it back down onto the table.

"But why did he need to hide it, if you can't even open it?"

"Presumably there is some trick to opening it," said Lexington, shrugging. "A secret word, incantation, maybe even a special key. I honestly don't know."

"You said it was dangerous," said Mrs Formby, she leaned forward to get a better look at the cover but she never made any moves towards touching the book.

"Yeah, you see that emblem on the front?" said Miro, pointing at a symbol. "That's the mark for the Sect of Kai."

"Sect of Kai?" said Mrs Formby. "Should that mean anything to me?"

"I thought your husband might have mentioned them," said Lexington, who had been watching the woman for any response to the book or the reference to the Sect. "Obviously not from your reaction. Most people have never heard of the Sect of Kai. They were long thought gone but recently resurfaced a few years ago to cause a bit of trouble."

"And you think this Sect might have something to do with my husband's disappearance?"

"I wouldn't rule anything out at this stage," said Lexington, picking up the book and placing it in the drawer of his desk. "I know someone who is a bit of an expert on the Sect and will hopefully be able to help me open the book or at least cast some light on to whom it might belong. I will of course update you with anything I hear."

"Thank you Mr Lexington," said Mrs Formby, standing up and making her way to the door. "I shall look forward to your owl."

"Very good," said Lexington, nodding goodbye as Miro helped usher the woman out the door down the stairs. He returned a few moments later. "Reg? How do you feel about doing a bit of covert work?"

"Anything would be better than being stuck in here all day," said Reg enthusiastically, as the ghost floated down through the ceiling. "What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to watch to office at night for the next couple of weeks."

"So you want me to be stuck in here all night as well?" said Reg disappointedly.

"Sorry Reg," said Lexington. "I promise next time we're following up on a clue I'll bring you with us."

"Why is Reg watching the office?" said Miro, looking at his mentor with a frown. He picked up a handful of letters that had been delivered while they had been out and started flicking through them. He put them into two piles which he mentally designated as 'bills' and 'important', those in the 'bills' pile were dumped into the nearby bin.

"I don't know why but I just have a feeling that someone might come for this," said Lexington, opening the drawer to his desk and taking out the book with the Sect of Kai symbol on it. He put the book into his inside pocket before taking out his wand and casting a spell on the drawer before closing it again.

"But the only person who knows we have it is Mrs Formby," said Miro, as he started to open the letters and quickly skim through them.

"That we know of," said Lexington. "The Sect of Kai managed to hide themselves undetected for a long time. I suspect they might have had someone keeping a close eye on Mrs Formby and now probably have someone keeping tabs on our investigation. We can't be too careful. This book is the only lead we have at the moment. If we lose it we have nothing. What's that?"

"Oh it's a letter from Fred and George up at Hogwarts," said Miro, who had been reading from the parchment for the last few moments. "I told them to let me know if anything strange happened at Hogwarts, well… stranger than usual at least."

"And there's something I take it?"

"There was an attack of some sort. On the caretaker's cat. It was Petrified," said Miro, continuing to read.

"Huh? Petrified? Rather an inefficient spell if you're looking to cause harm," commented Lexington.

"There was also a message. 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir, beware.'"

"The Chamber of Secrets? Are you sure it says those exact words?" said Lexington looking grim.

"Yeah definitely," said Miro, reading from the parchment again just to make sure. "Does that mean something to you?"

"A few years before I started at Hogwarts a student was killed by something that some people said had come out of the Chamber," said Lexington, leaning back on his chair.

"And did they catch whatever came out?"

"No, that was just a rumour that spread throughout the school. Another student who liked to keep dangerous creatures was blamed for letting one of them out in the school and was expelled," said Lexington. "There were no more attacks after that so everyone assumed the culprit had been caught, but the sudden mention of the Chamber after all these years is a bit of a coincidence don't you think?"

"You don't think this is linked to our case do you?"

"Can't rule it out," said Lexington. "A man goes missing and the Sect of Kai might be involved. The same Sect that Enoch ran into in Egypt a couple of years ago. It's not inconceivable that it was the Sect that sent that assassin after Enoch and your friends. And now this mention of the Chamber? It could all be linked or if could be complete rubbish. Ask your friends to keep us informed of anything else going on in Hogwarts. Are they reliable?"

"They are… er…" started Miro struggling to try and find the right words, "… the best option we have at the moment."


	9. Chapter 9

A week or so after Professor McGonagall had come around to each of the students to see who was staying at Hogwarts over the Christmas period, Fred, Lee, and George walked passed a small group of students gathered around the noticeboard near the main entrance to the school. There was a fresh parchment pinned to the board.

"I wonder what Filch has banned this time," said George, as they approached the board. The caretaker had managed to ban a whole number of interesting and fun items over the years, most of which were a direct result of Fred and George having brought them to the school in the first place.

"Looks like they're starting a Duelling Club," said Lee, reading the parchment.

"Again?" said Fred, recalling the time two years previous that a similar club had been started by their Uncle Enoch whilst he was the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. "I'm surprised they want to risk it after last time."

"Yeah one meeting before McGonagall shut the whole thing down," said George. "Although I think that it had more to do with Enoch's friends from the pub gambling on the matches. Might be different this time."

"Depends who is running it," said Lee. "Flitwick might be fun. I think he was a champion dueller when he was younger, but I don't fancy McGonagall or Snape doing it."

"It's on tonight at eight," said Fred, tapping his finger on the page. "Might as well stick around after dinner and see. I'm the undisputed Hogwarts champion after all."

"You beat Flint," said George. "How does that possibly make you undisputed champion?"

"Well, no one undisputed it for a start," reasoned Fred.

"Do you even know what 'undisputed' means?" asked Lee.

"Handsome?" ventured Fred.

The three boys headed down to the Great Hall later on that evening along with a large contingent of the student body eager to join. Most people had gone thinking it would be a good idea to get some kind of combat training to help them defend themselves against whatever had been attacking the students late at night.

The long dining tables had disappeared and a large golden stage was now in place along one of the walls, lit by thousands of candles floating overhead. The hall was filled with students all clutching their wands with excitement. There was an excited murmur from the crowd as Lockhart in splendid purple robes and Snape in his usual black ones stepped onto the stage.

"Gather round, gather round," Lockhart ordered, beckoning everyone towards him. "Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!"

"Great," said Lee, leaning towards Fred and George as Lockhart started addressing the crowd. "It looks like all we'll be learning in Duelling Club is how to pose."

"I already know how to do that," said Fred, flexing his muscles theatrically.

After a few moments Snape and Lockhart decided to give the students a quick demonstration on Duelling techniques. This resulted in the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher being flung backward by a Disarming Spell. He was repelled across the room and landing in an unflattering pile on the ground. Despite what most people would have considered an embarrassing defeat, Lockhart jumped to his feet and pretended that he had deliberately let Snape attack him just to give the students a demonstration on what they should expect from their opponents.

Rather than continue the demonstration Lockhart decided to start pairing students together to practice amongst themselves. Fred and George immediately paired themselves together while Lee matched himself with a third year Hufflepuff boy who had accidentally wandered into the Great Hall to see what all the noise had been about.

"You're going down Fred," advised George, flourishing his wand in an extremely flamboyant manner.

"You'll have to hit me first," replied Fred, bouncing from one foot to the other.

"Face your partners!" called Lockhart, standing on the stage. "And bow! Wands at the ready! When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents… only to disarm, we don't want any accidents. One… two… three…"

What happened next could only be described as 'pandemonium'. Someone had fired off a spell on the count of 'two' which triggered everyone else to launch into their own attacks. Fred immediately dove to one side when he saw his brother raise his wand. George, however, suspected his brother would try dodging first and had waited until Fred had flung himself to the ground before he fired his incantation. Fortunately for Fred the attack missed. Unfortunately for Lee, Fred had decided to grab hold of him and use him as a human-shield.

"Gerroff," shouted Lee, trying to dodge his opponent's spells, as well as George's, whilst trying to get loose from Fred's grip.

"I said disarm only!" shouted Lockhart over the battling crowd.

"Rictusempra!" said Fred, trying to hit his brother but firing straight up as Lee grabbed hold of his arm and stamped down on his foot. "Ow!"

"Stop! Stop!" screamed Lockhart.

"Finite Incantatem!" bellowed Snape, causing the magic to cease.

"Really?" said Lee, turning around to talk to Fred. "A shield? You used me as a shield?"

"No," said Fred. "Would you believe I was trying to protect you?"

"Yeah, fat chance," scoffed Lee. He pointed at George. "And you! Were you trying to hit me or him?"

"Either one would have worked," said George, shrugging.

"I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," said Lockhart looking around at the carnage the last thirty seconds had caused. "Let's have a volunteer pair… Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you…"

"A bad idea Professor Lockhart," said Snape, interrupting the man. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the Hospital Wing in a matchbox. How about Malfoy and Potter?"

"Excellent idea," said Lockhart, gesturing the two boys into the centre of the room while the rest of the students backed away to give them space.

"Who's your money on?" said George, as Lockhart gave Harry instructions on how to block spells, as Snape did likewise to Malfoy.

"Normally I'd say Harry but…" Fred tailed off as Lockhart dropped his wand which he had been waving around erratically. "You know what? He should be fine if he ignores everything that idiot says."

Malfoy and Harry faced each other.

"Three… two… one…go!" shouted Lockhart.

"Serpensortia!" shouted Malfoy.

A long black snake shot out of the end of the boy's wand and landed on the ground between him and Harry. It reared itself up and looked as though it were ready to strike. There were screams as everyone quickly took a step back and in some cases stood on someone else's toe in the hurry to move.

"Don't move, Potter," said Snape. "I'll get rid of it…"

"Allow me!" shouted Lockhart. He aimed his wand at the snake. There was a loud bang and the snake shot upward into the air about ten feet before fallen back and smacking off the ground. In its enraged state it slithered towards Justin Finch-Fletchley, the second year Hufflepuff who had been earlier paired with Neville.

There was a slight hissing sound and people quickly realised that it wasn't coming from the snake but from Harry who was slowly walking towards the creature, seemingly egging the snake on to try and attack Justin. Harry looked over at the Hufflepuff student and gave him a grin.

"What do you think you are playing at?" snapped Justin, before storming away.

Snape cast a spell at the snake causing it to vanish while Ron and Hermione grabbed hold of Harry and dragged him out of the Great Hall.

"He's a Parselmouth?" said Lee, as he watched the three leave the room in a hurry. He turned to the twins. "Did you know?"

"Oh yeah, he's always talking to the snakes that we carry around with us at all times," said George, sarcastically. "Of course, we didn't know."

"I told you he was the Heir," said Fred.

"Hang on; _I_ said he was the Heir," said Lee. "You all laughed at me when I said that."

"Are you sure? It doesn't sound like something we would do," said George, scratching his chin.

"Well boys and girls," said Lockhart from the stage. "I think that is all for today. Well done, everyone well done. Keep checking the noticeboard to see when I've arranged our second meeting."

"Yeah, good luck with that," muttered Fred as everyone began filtering out.

"I told you there was something wrong with Potter," commented Malfoy to his two friends, Crabbe and Goyle, who constantly flanked him everywhere he went.

"Wow, you're sounding a bit jealous there," said George from behind.

"Me? Jealous of Potter?" snapped Malfoy whirling round to face him. "What am I jealous of? His dead parents?"

"Well he was made the youngest Seeker in a century last year," said George. "And you obviously wanted to play Quidditch since your dad helped buy your way onto the team."

"And now there's the fact that he's a Parselmouth," added Fred. "Which means he could be the Heir of Slytherin, something which I sure you would have loved to tell everyone was you."

"So yeah, it sounds like you're jealous," added George.

"Now listen here…" snarled Malfoy.

"You do know that if it turns out he _is_ the Heir of Slytherin then you'll probably have to call him sir or something," advised Fred, talking over the younger boy.

"I didn't even think of that," said George. "You know what I did find funny though?"

"What's that, George?" said Fred.

"The fact that only a Gryffindor was good enough to be the Heir of Slytherin," said George.

"That's it…" said Malfoy, reaching for his wand.

"What's all the commotion boys?" asked Lockhart who had descended on the small group.

"Oh Malfoy here really wanted to learn your wand technique," said George quickly, pointing at the boy. "He was just trying to show us but I don't think he was paying much attention because he doesn't look as cool as you did."

"Oh well, dear boy why didn't you say you wanted some one-on-one tuition?" said Lockhart, beaming from ear to ear. He placed an arm around Malfoy's shoulder and led him over to one side of the room.

"Such an idiot," said Lee, shaking his head as the boy's exited the Great Hall.

"Which one?" asked Fred, looking back. Crabbe and Goyle were still stood in the same place and seemed unsure as to whether or not they should stick around and wait for Malfoy.

"All of them," said Lee, nodding his head.

"That was a waste of time," said George, pulling down the notice for the Duelling Club from the board as they passed.

"I dunno," said Fred. "If we hadn't had that meeting then we wouldn't know about Harry being a Parseltongue."

"Mouth," said George, correcting him.

"What?"

"Parsel _mouth_ , you said Parseltongue."

"Mouth, tongue, is there really a difference?"

"Is if you do it right," said Lee, grinning.

"Was that a joke about kissing?" said Fred.

"Well…"

"Who have you kissed?" asked George, before quickly adding, "and your mum doesn't count."

"Well there was… you… know…" stammered Lee. "You wouldn't know her, she's from back home."

"That's convenient, isn't it Fred?"

"Very convenient, George."

"Well, who have you two kissed?"

"Oh you wouldn't know her, she's from back home," said Fred quickly.

"Yeah, I thought so," said Lee.

"Thought what?" asked Angelina, who had, along with Alicia, come up behind the boys as everyone made their way up the Grand Staircase.

"That Fred's girlfriend, who he's never mentioned, is from back home," said Lee.

" _You_ have a girlfriend?" asked Alicia flatly.

"He wishes," said George, punching his brother on the arm.

"I could have a girlfriend if I wanted one," said Fred. "It's not like I'm Percy or something."

"Percy has a girlfriend," said Angelina.

If Angelina had just said that she had seen Snape waltzing through the school in a bright pink dress with balloons attached to his hair the three boys would still not have looked as surprised as they did right then.

"Percy," said George. He turned around having stopped on one of the small landings on the stairs. "As in my brother Percy, has a girlfriend."

"Yeah," said Angelina.

"When you say girlfriend, do you mean 'girlfriend'?" said Fred, making a quotation gesture with his fingers. "Or do you mean he has a friend who just happens to be a girl."

"I mean he has a girlfriend," said Angelina. "As in an actual girlfriend."

"That just seems…" said George, shaking his head. "Who?"

"I'm not telling you that you'll just tease him about it," said Angelina. "Or worse; you'll tease her."

"Obviously," said George. He looked at the girl for a moment as though he were sizing her up. "It's not you is it?"

"What? No, of course not," scoffed Angelina.

"Good," said George. He noticed everyone's reaction. "Because if it was then I'd have to tease her about it and I don't particularly want to tease Angelina about that. You'd probably punch me in the throat or something."

"I might still do that," advised Angelina, causing George to step back quickly.

"Come on, would you at least give us a clue?" said Fred. "Is it someone in his year? Another Gryffindor? Is it Madam Pince?"

"Madam Pince?" said Lee, raising his eyebrows.

"Well he does spend a lot of time in the library," reasoned Fred. "Why else would he be in there?"

"Because he likes to study," said Lee.

"Oh yeah, I suppose," said Fred, as though it had only just occurred to him that the library was used for schoolwork.

"Come on, who is it?" said George, as the group started back up the stairs once again. "Do I know her?"

"How would I know if you know her?" asked Angelina.

"Well, tell me her name and I'll let you know if I know her," said George.

"Seeing as it took you most of last year before you got Hermione's name right and _she's_ one of your brother's best friend, I'm going to assume you don't know her," said Angelina.

"Then just tell me her name," said George.

"No chance, you'll immediately go off and try and find her just to embarrass her or Percy."

"Exactly," said George, happy that they were on the same page.

"No," said Angelina firmly.

Despite George's pleas and outright begging Angelina stood firm for the rest of the walk back to Gryffindor Tower. Inside the Common Room was packed as those who were at the Duelling Club meeting brought the others up to speed on what had happened. A quick scan of the room revealed that Ron, Harry, nor Hermione had stuck around for any awkward questions.

* * *

The following morning brought a fresh sheet of snow which covered the whole of the school grounds and caused Professor Sprout to cancel the remaining Herbology lessons much to the delight of Fred and George as that had been their final class of the day. Unfortunately McGonagall hadn't followed suit and their morning lesson continued as usual.

"We'll be trying a simple transfiguration spell today and although I call it a simple spell you will still need all your concentration as you will be trying it out on each other," said McGonagall. The class were extremely excited as so far in their years at Hogwarts they had only performed magic on inanimate objects or small animals. "Today I will show you how to change your hair colour. As I said it's a very simple spell but when it comes to human transfiguration we can never be too careful."

She showed them the incantation and the corresponding wand motion, and told the class to copy her while she walked amongst the rows of tables until she was happy that each person was able to perform to her expectations.

"Okay turn towards the person next to you and being very careful to pronounce the incantation clearly perform the spell on my count. Only try it once and stop," ordered McGonagall sternly. "One… two… three…"

Everyone said the spell and waved their wands. Not a single person was able to get it to work.

"And again," said McGonagall. "Remember the slight turn of your wrist as you say the words."

Once again there was a chorus of words. This time there was an excited yelp from Alicia. Everyone turned around to see that Angelina's hair had changed from its usual black to a dark brown.

"Very good, Miss Spinnett, five points to Gryffindor," said McGonagall. "Now everyone keep going, just remember to pronounce the words carefully. Don't worry about the actual colour just concentrate on changing it in the first place."

It didn't take long but soon everyone was sitting in the class with different coloured hair.

"I think we look good blonde," commented George, looking at Fred who now had golden locks in place of his usual red hair.

"Speak for yourself," said Lee, who had borrow a mirror from Angelina to look at his own dreadlocks which had also been changed blonde.

Once everyone had become comfortable with changing the hair from its original colour McGonagall moved onto being able to change the colour of the hair to one chosen by the spell caster. It took a little more concentration but soon the students were changing each other's hair to whatever garish hue that came to mind. Some of them were even able to change the hair to multiple colours and basic patterns.

"What do you think?" said Alicia, who was now sporting black and white striped hair.

"Very good, everybody, very good. Now if you'll all just return each other's hair to normal and look at the blackboard, I will write down everything you've just learnt and you will copy it down for your notes as I'm sure many of you will require to refresh your knowledge when you return after the holidays," said McGonagall, waving her wand towards the chalk which started floating in the air and writing on the blackboard of its own accord. "It is important to remember…

"ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK!" came a scream from the corridor. This was followed by the crashing sound of a number of classroom doors being wildly swung open.

"Honestly, that Peeves," snapped McGonagall, hurrying towards the door. "Stay in your seats."

It was one of the few times nobody listened to the Deputy Headmistress and instead surged after her into the hallway where they found a Petrified Justin Finch-Fletchley lying in the middle of the floor, while a black and smoky Nearly Headless Nick was next to him, floating immobile a few inches off the ground. Both had a frozen expression of shock on their faces.

McGonagall used her wand to set off a loud bang to quieten the crowd which she then ordered back to their classrooms.

Just as they turned to leave a young Hufflepuff boy shouted, whilst pointing an accusatory finger, "caught in the act!"

"That will do, Macmillian!" snapped McGonagall sharply.

Fred and George turned to see at whom the boy had pointed. It had been Harry.

* * *

Reg the ghost lived a very similar life to Reg the wizard. The only real main difference was that he no longer had to open doors before going through them. He still lived in a small attic apartment above the office building. After Reg's death the owner of the building had gone into the attic to start sorting through his meagre possessions, with no doubt the view that he might be able to sell some of the items, and was extremely surprised to see Reg floating above the ground. Not nearly as surprised as Reg had been. One minute he was carefully leaning out of the attic window and the next he was back in the middle of the room and wondering why he could now see through his hand.

The building's owner had tried everything to get rid of Reg. He'd bought amulets, crystals, potions, and powders. He had consulted with wizards, and witches, all who claimed they could rid the building of Reg's ghostly presence. Nothing worked. Something that Reg felt rather guilty about. In the end they had come to an agreement Reg would be allowed to stay in the attic, not that there was any other option, and in return Reg would become an unofficial caretaker for the property. Since he never learnt how to actually touch things his main duties revolved around keeping squatters from illegally setting up in the building, which he usually managed by singing at them loudly and tunelessly until they left.

Most people that rented the offices didn't really like Reg's presence about the place and normally only lasted a few months before terminating their contract and moving on. Lexington and Miro on the other hand were not only delighted with the fact that the building came with a ghost but offered to pay Reg if he looked after anyone that came to their office while they were out.

Reg floated in the air in the middle of his attic room, slowly turning himself around. Occasionally he would dip his head through the floor to look into the detective agency office and let out a sigh of annoyance when it was clear everything was just perfectly fine like it had been the last few nights.

Just as he was about to give up for the night and try to sleep (not an easy thing to achieve when you can see through your own eyelids) Reg heard a faint creaking sound coming from below which had just enough difference compared with the usual groans the building made to make him investigate.

Peering through the ceiling Reg noticed a shadowy figure creeping into the office. He watched as the intruder made their way around the room and over to the desk.

"Hey you!" shouted Reg from above, causing the figure to look around in alarm.

There was a sudden bright red light as the interloper fired a Stunning spell into the air. Reg retreated upwards into the attic to allow the ceiling to block the attack before he floated back down.

"I say, stop that right this instance," ordered Reg, gliding into the room.

"Oh, you're just a ghost," said a male voice concealed beneath a hood.

"Just a ghost? Just a ghost!" said Reg indignantly. "I'll have you know I am part of the Wizard Detective Agency, the agency need I remind you that you are currently trespassing upon."

"You aren't even worth the effort to attack," snapped the man. He ran his hand long the top of the desk as he tried to locate the drawer.

"Now see here…" began Reg as the man's hand found the drawer handle.

There was a sudden loud bang and simultaneous bright flash of light as the man tried to open the drawer. He was flung backwards and landed heavily against the wall. Groaning, the man picked himself up approached the now open drawer and peered inside. He swore once he saw it was empty.

"Where is it?" he demanded, as a faint wisp of smoke curled out from the hood.

"Where's what?" replied Reg, unable to see properly due to the flash of light.

The man snorted in annoyance and quickly Apparated away. The whole incident from start to finish couldn't have lasted more than two minutes, but it was still the most exciting thing that Reg had ever experienced in life or death.

"I'll let Mr Lexington know right away," said Reg to himself before he realised he had no way to contact the man and didn't have a clue where he lived. "Oh… I guess I'll just wait here then."


	10. Chapter 10

The double attack on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick turned what was a simmering level of anxiety that had permeated the school into a full blown panic. McGonagall was inundated with requests for passage on the Hogwarts Express as those who were initially going to stay over the Christmas period quickly decided to change their minds. Everyone was on edge. Well, nearly everyone.

"Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through…" shouted Fred, as he and George marched ahead of Harry through the school corridors.

"He'll curse your face off if you aren't quick about it too," said George, pulling at the skin on his face as he frightened an already terrified looking first year. "Just look at the Slytherin Quidditch Captain. _He_ wouldn't get out of the way and now he's horribly disfigured."

"Will you two stop it?" ordered Percy, as he stormed up to them. "It is not a laughing matter."

"Oh, get out of the way Percy," said Fred, ushering his brother to one side. "Harry's in a hurry."

"Yeah, he's off to the Chamber of Secrets for a cup of tea with his fanged servant," said George, chuckling.

"Okay guys, you can probably stop that now," said Harry, he pointed towards the door of the Great Hall. "This is where I was going."

"Of course my master, please don't punish me," said Fred, dropping to his knees and pretending to beg.

"It's okay Fred, he won't harm us," said George, theatrically.

"Because we are such good servants?" asked Fred.

"No," said George, putting his hand into his robe and pulling something out which he waved towards Harry in a protective manner. "Because I've got _this_!"

"An onion?" said Harry, looking at the object George was holding.

"What? No. It's garlic," said George. He examined the item in his hand. "Isn't it?"

"No, that's an onion," said Fred, taking it off of his brother and sniffing it. "Definitely an onion, it doesn't even smell slightly garlicky."

"Are you sure?" said George, looking disappointed.

"Yeah, do you even know what garlic looks like?"

"I thought it looked like that but obviously not," he took it back from his brother and held it out towards Harry. "Don't suppose this is repelling you, is it?"

"Well, I guess I don't really like onions," said Harry, trying to be helpful.

"AHA!" said George, brandishing the onion once again.

"But they don't really repel me."

"Oh," said George. "Er… don't suppose you'll wait here while I go and get some garlic?"

"Bye George," said Harry, heading into the Great Hall.

"Really? An onion?" said Fred, shaking his head. "Do you know how stupid you look right now?"

"You know you're still on your knees right?"

* * *

As term ended and the majority of the school went home, only the Weasley family along with Hermione and Harry were left in Gryffindor House. Fred and George spent most of their time in the Gryffindor Common Room stationed right in front of the large fireplace where the warm glow from the burning logs kept them cosy. Outside it had been snowing heavily for the last week or so and Hagrid was having a hard time keeping all of the paths clear.

The lion's share of their days was spent playing Exploding Snap with the others and occasionally trying to teach them how to duel. Occasionally was the correct term here as, despite being two years younger, Hermione tended to correct the twins on how they should be pronouncing the incantations or making their wands move, and the annoying part was that she was pretty much always right.

Percy spent most of his time hidden away from the others, as he tended to complain about their childish behaviour if he happened to be in the same room at the same time as them. He told them the only reason he stayed was because it was his duty as a prefect to help support the teachers during a troubled time for the school. Fred and George countered this by saying that they thought they only reason he actually stayed was because his girlfriend was staying at the school whom, they eventually settled on, was Moaning Myrtle.

Christmas day came with a fresh blanket of snow and Fred and George woke early, relatively for them, and quickly exchanged gifts before tearing apart the wrapping on their presents. They pretty much got identical gifts from everyone, including the ones they gave each other, the only difference were in the knitted woollen jumpers they received from their mother. Fred had been given a dark red jumper with an orange F emblazoned on the front while George's was a bubble-gum pink colour with a dark blue G.

"Come on," ordered Fred, who had already quickly pulled on his jumper and was waiting for his brother.

"I'm coming, it's just this is a bit tight," said George, struggling to pull the jumper over his head. "There."

"It looks a little small," commented Fred.

"Do you think?" said George. The jumper was very snuggly fitted to his body, the arms only came part way down his forearms whilst the bottom rested just over his stomach and left his t-shirt visible across his mid-drift. "Maybe it shrunk in the post."

"Oh, hi Ginny," said Fred, as their sister came up the stairs. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," said Ginny, she was holding a jumper that was the same colour as Fred's. "I think mum might have mixed up mine and George's jumpers."

"What makes you say that?" asked George, standing in his pink jumper which was straining at the seams.

"Because this one is obviously too large for me and well… you look like that," said Ginny, waving a hand towards her brother.

"It's called being fashionable Ginny," said George, walking passed his sister and down the stairs. "Come on, put on your jumper."

"But," said Ginny starting to complain but Fred had already grabbed hold of the jumper and stuffed it over the girl's head. The arms of the jumper dangled uselessly past her hands while the bottom came to her thighs.

Down in the Common Room they found Harry, Ron, and Hermione who had all risen early and had already opened their presents. Ron and Harry were also wearing knitted jumpers provided by Mrs Weasley and everyone quickly began comparing presents with the exception of Ginny who spent the run up to lunch trying her best to convince George to return what, everyone agreed, was clearly her jumper.

As usual at Christmas time, the Great Hall looked magnificent with dozens of frost-covered trees and thick streamers of holly and mistletoe crisscrossing the ceiling. There was also enchanted snow falling from above which Fred and George discovered was warm, dry, and totally unsuitable to be made into snowballs without instantly falling apart in their hands before they could throw them.

Aside from the teachers, Filch, and Hagrid, there were only a few students from the other houses. Malfoy and his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, were the only ones from Slytherin and had chosen to sit on their own House's table and occasional make snide remarks which gradually grew louder and louder until they made the mistake of saying something too loud which caught the attention of McGonagall. Whatever she said to them was enough to keep them silent for the rest of the meal.

There were a few Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students who all elected to sit together on the Hufflepuff table on the far side of the room. It was soon obvious why they hadn't invited any of the Gryffindors to join them as they collectively kept flashing Harry looks that ranged between fear and suspicion, with the exception of a Ravenclaw first year girl who seemed a bit too distracted by the decorations to really pay any attention to anything else around her.

There was also a small contingent of prefects who had stayed; three Ravenclaws, two Hufflepuffs, and two Slytherins who sat at their usual table. Since neither the Head Boy nor Head Girl had stayed over the holidays, Percy had stationed himself at the head of the prefects' table and looked thoroughly delighted. Although he probably would have been less impressed if he had realised that Fred had bewitched his prefect badge so that it now read 'Pin-head'.

It didn't take long before people started to filter out of the Great Hall, Ron and Harry had just finished their third helping of Christmas pudding before Hermione had ushered them both out of the room, probably worried that they would make themselves sick before they decided to stop. Ginny had given up all attempts to get George to switch jumpers and was now chatting to her fellow first year from Ravenclaw. Up at the teacher's table most of the staff had retired to comfier surroundings leaving just McGonagall and Dumbledore deep in conversation while Hagrid had fallen asleep at the table after a bit too many eggnogs. Malfoy had disappeared early in the meal while Crabbe and Goyle stayed to eat as many cakes and treats as they could fit into their bodies, which turned out to be rather a lot. Eventually, even the stragglers drifted away leaving Fred and George alone in the Great Hall.

"I think I might explode," said George, leaning back in his chair and resting his hands on his stomach.

"Maybe we shouldn't have had third helpings of seconds," reasoned Fred in equal discomfort.

"Right, I'm going to head upstairs, lie down on the couch in front of the fire and wake up in about a week or so," said George, letting out a long drawn out yawn.

"Are you going?" asked Fred a few seconds later when it became obvious his brother wasn't moving any time soon.

"Yep. I'm going right… now," said George, he strained for a few moments before completely relaxing into the chair. "Don't suppose you want to carry me?"

"I can barely lift my own head," advised Fred.

After mutual encouragement and general cajoling the twins forced themselves up and out of their seats and headed out of the Great Hall. Just as they got to the doorway they noticed Ron and Harry struggling to drag what appeared to be the unconscious bodies of Crabbe and Goyle into a broom closet in the entrance hall. George looked over at Fred who just shrugged before the twins carried on their way without disturbing the pair.

Upstairs in the Common Room they found Percy waiting for them with his arms crossed and his foot tapping in annoyance.

"Alright Percy?" said George.

"Pin-head?" exclaimed Percy, pointing to his prefect badge.

"Alright Pin-head," said George correcting himself.

"I wasn't asking you to call… how long has it been like this?" snapped Percy.

"Not long," said Fred, looking up at the clock above the fireplace. "I'd say about… six hours."

"Six… six hours!" shouted Percy. "It was like this during the Christmas feast?"

"Oh yeah, definitely," said George, waddling over to one of the sofas and flopping down. He gave out a contented sigh.

"You made me look stupid in front of all the other prefects," said Percy, looking thoroughly furious.

"Come on Percy, you can't blame us for making you look stupid," said Fred, settling into an armchair.

"We are only responsible for twenty-five percent of that. Thirty at tops," calculated George. "I mean the haircut alone has to count for half of your stupid look. The clothes for another ten percent, although I can't really complain about them since they'll probably be mine and Fred's next year."

"You two seriously need to start growing up," snapped Percy, heading towards the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Where are you going Percy? It's Christmas, you should be spending it with family," said George.

"I am a prefect, and I have to patrol the school," said Percy, looking at the clock to check the time.

"Patrol it for what?" said Fred. "There's probably only about twenty five students in the whole school at the moment and most of them would be staying in their Houses"

"It's called being responsible," said Percy, haughtily.

"Ah I know what you're up to," said George, grinning.

"What?" said Percy, looking flustered.

"You think you'll catch the Heir of Slytherin skulking around the school at night," said George, letting out a chuckle.

"No chance," said Fred. "The Heir will be sleeping off his Christmas dinner, same as everyone else in the country. Only thing you'll catch out there is a cold."

"Yeah," agreed George. "Plus what are you going to do if you catch him? Tell him off? Five points from Slytherin?"

"I don't have time for this," said Percy in a terse voice. He turned around and headed out of the Common Room.

"Fine," said Fred, calling after his brother. "Can you drop into the kitchens when you're on your patrol and pick up some Christmas cake?"

"How can you even think of eating anything at the moment?" said George, closing his eyes as he snuggled down into the soft sofa furnishings.

"Well I figure he'll be patrolling for an hour or so and I might be peckish after my nap."

"Good thinking," said George. "We should have got him to pick up some pumpkin juice too."

"I'm sure he'll figure it out," said Fred, letting out a yawn.

"Ha! Percy Pin-head," chortled George. "That was a good one."

"Thanksss….zzzzz," said Fred, lapsing into a low snore.

"Silly Fred, no stamina," said George, stretching out his arms as he yawned. "No stamina what so…zzzzz."

The twins spent most of the night asleep in front of the fire and only finally dragged themselves up to bed when the last of the logs had been burnt away and the remaining embers weren't enough to keep them warm. With no plans for the day Fred and George spent the entire morning lounging in bed and probably would have stayed even longer if their rumbling stomachs hadn't forced them out of their cosy cocoons in search of food. They dressed themselves in warm clothes. Both wore their Christmas jumpers, although George now had his proper one since Ginny had snuck in earlier on in the day and swapped them back, and headed down to the Great Hall for lunch. They found Ron and Harry hunched over large bowls of warm stew.

"Morning fellas," said Fred, sitting down next to them while his brother went around the other side of the table by climbing over it.

"It's nearly two o'clock," advised Ron, pointing a spoon towards the clock.

"That's early morning in Fred and George time," said George, helping himself to a large bowl of stew and a couple of bread rolls which he dipped into the broth.

The boys chatted for a while with Ron and Harry while they ate their food. It was good and filled their stomachs with a warm glow and Fred and George made sure they both had extra helpings.

"Where's Hermione?" said Fred, looking around the room for the girl who usually hung around with his younger brother. "Don't tell me she is in the library. Does she ever stop studying?"

"She's in the Infirmary," said Ron.

"For what? She didn't get attacked did she?" said George, dribbling stew down his chin.

"No… she's just…" Ron stammered and looked to Harry for support.

"Ill, she's ill," said Harry quickly. "I think she was trying some new spell that she read about and it made her sick."

"I know that feeling," nodded Fred. "George and I are always trying our own potions out. They tend to be a bit hit and miss. More miss than hit if I'm being honest."

"We're getting better though," said George.

"True, mainly because we started testing the stuff to the gnomes behind our garden."

"We should bring her up some treats," said George. "We spent rather a lot of time in the Infirmary over the last few years and the only thing you can fault Madam Pomfrey on is that she doesn't provide any cakes."

"I doubt Hermione wants to see anyone at the moment," said Harry. "But if you give them to us we can bring them up."

"Sure, like I'm going to fall for that old trick," scoffed George. "Ron will have any treats scarfed before he gets halfway to the Hospital Wing."

"Hey! I would not," complained Ron.

"Nope, no chance," said Fred, who had been watching the two younger boys closely. "Unless there is another reason why you don't want us going up."

"What? No," said Ron, quickly. "I just don't think she'd want to see anyone at the moment."

"Why not?" asked George, suspiciously.

"Er… because… because," began Ron.

"Because she's contagious," said Harry, thinking quickly. "Highly contagious. We were given something by Pomfrey, so we're immune."

"Contagious? Well that makes sense I suppose," said Fred, finishing his last bit of stew and dropping his spoon into the bowl. "Wouldn't want to catch anything."

"Yes, that's definitely a reason to keep away from the Infirmary," agreed George, also putting his cutlery down. There was a pause as he looked over at his twin.

Suddenly Fred and George leapt out of their seats and raced towards the door.

"Where are you going?" called Ron.

"We're seeing what's wrong with Hermione," replied George over his shoulder.

"It's got to be good if you're trying this hard to keep us away," added Fred.

Behind them Ron and Harry started to try and follow the pair but their head start and superior knowledge of all the secret shortcuts in the school meant there would be no chance of catching the twins. The pair slowed down as they reached the Infirmary as bursting through the doors would have easily made Madam Pomfrey immediately throw them out. Instead they carefully made their way inside trying their best to be quiet but at the same time not look as though they were snooping.

The room was quiet; at the far end were the two beds where the Petrified forms of Colin Creevy and Justin Finch-Fletchley lay with curtains pulled around for privacy. The closest bed to the door was occupied by someone whom the twins assumed was Hermione since whomever it was had a large book opened in front of their face.

"Ahem," coughed Fred.

"About time, I've nearly finished this book. Harry could you…" began Hermione lowering the tomb before stopping and staring at the twins. It was unclear who was more surprised; Hermione at the fact that it was Fred and George and not Ron or Harry, or Fred and George at the fact that Hermione's face was covered in black fur, her eyes were now bright yellow, and two long pointed ears poked out the top of her hair.

* * *

Miro had been looking forward to a nice long relaxing lie in at his parents' house after a practically perfect Christmas Day, but this had been cut short by the early morning arrival of Lexington.

"It's Boxing Day Bernard," said Miro. Using Lexington's first name still felt weird but his business partner insisted. "No one works over Christmas and that includes Boxing Day."

"I know I said take a few days off but I had a break through," said Lexington, he was wrapped up warm but his breath was fogging in the air.

"Come on in," sighed Miro. "But keep your voice down; my parents are still in bed."

"I know, I know," said Lexington, stepping into the warmth of the house. He didn't particularly want the Franca's waking up any more than Miro did. They didn't exactly approve of their son dropping out of Auror training for, what they considered, a dead-end job, and they firmly laid the blame at Lexington's door.

"So, what's the break through? Is it about the man that broke into the office? I didn't think Reg didn't think got a good enough look to identify him."

"He didn't, but the trap-spell I put over the drawer had a nasty surprise in it." said Lexington, explaining as quickly as he could. "And the incantation I used meant that if he was hit it would burn into his skin and the only way to heal it is with some specialised healing tonic which is very hard to reproduce without the right equipment."

"Reg said he saw the man take the blast right in the face," said Miro, suddenly feeling wide awake.

"Exactly, so I've asked a few contacts to keep an eye out in case anyone came in looking for treatment."

"At St Mungos?" said Miro, referring to the Wizard Hospital based in London.

"That was one of the places I kept an eye on but no," said Lexington, shaking his head. "The Gröning Institute."

"The Gröning Institute?" said Miro, recalling the name but unable to place it.

"New York," said Lexington, confirming the location of the hospital. "Fancy going on a trip?"

* * *

Hermione had been embarrassed and on the verge of tears. Harry and Ron had been annoyed; at least the twins assumed that was the case as when they burst into the Infirmary they were too out of breath to actually say anything. Madam Pomfrey had been furious but had only threatened them with detention; at least she _had_ before Fred had opened his mouth.

"I can't believe you said that," said George. The twins were outside shovelling snow from the pathways under the watchful gaze of Filch.

"What? It was obvious. I couldn't help it," said Fred, throwing a spade of snow onto the pile next to them.

"I have better things to be doing than this," complained George. "'What's wrong Hermione? Cat got your tongue?' You're an idiot."


	11. Chapter 11

Hermione remained in the Hospital Wing for several weeks while she recovered. There was a flurry of rumours about her disappearance when the rest of the school arrived back from their Christmas holidays, because of course everyone assumed that she had been attacked. As they knew the truth, or at least part of it anyway, Fred and George had been forbidden by Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall to talk about the girl's condition with anyone under the threat of a significant period of time stuck in detention. Fred and George promised they would take the secret to their graves.

"She's a cat?" said Lee, as they walked along the corridor to their next class.

"Well she's sort of like a cat person," said Fred, trying to describe Hermione's condition. "She's human sized just with fur and pointy ears."

"And a tail," added George.

"How did she end up like that?" asked Lee.

"No idea, Harry and Ron aren't saying anything," said Fred, shrugging.

"I think she might have read about Animaguses and tried to do it herself," reasoned George. They turned out of a door and outside into the cold.

"That's pretty dangerous," said Lee. "It because of stuff like what happened to Hermione that they have a register."

"A register for Animaguses?" said Fred, as they reached the greenhouses for their Herbology lesson. Inside it was warm and stuffy with two long tables that stretched throughout the middle of the room, while at the edges of the room were other tables containing various different plants and vegetables in small pots.

"Animagi," said Angelina, who had heard the tail end of their conversation as they entered the greenhouse.

"What?" asked Fred, putting down his bag.

"Animagi, that's the plural of Animagus. Not Animaguses," advised Angelina.

"How could you possibly know that?" argued Lee, as the boys lined up alongside one of the tables.

"Because we covered it in class last year," said Angelina.

"Which…" said Lee drawing out the word.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts. Remember?" said Angelina.

"Ah, well I did spend rather a lot of time in the Infirmary last year," conceded Lee. He frowned for a moment. "I do seem to get a fair amount of head injuries. Do you think that something I should worry about?"

"Ah, you'll be fine," said George, waving a hand dismissively.

"You're like us, you have a thick head," said Fred, wrapping his temple with his knuckle. "Ow."

"Morning everyone," said Professor Sprout entering the room carrying a large black box. "I trust you all had a lovely Christmas. Now shall we get down to business?"

She placed the box down on the one end of the table, opened it, and began passing down the items so that each person had a set of earplugs, a nose-plug like those usually reserved for swimming, and four curved pieces of metal about the size of someone's wrist.

"Everyone got ear and nose plugs, and a set of ankle and wrist guards?" asked Sprout looking down the table. There was a general murmuring of agreement from the class. "Very good, don't put them on yet, not until I say so. Now today we are repotting the Eremita Tenebris Flos also more commonly known as Hermit Pineapples because their leaves look similar to those of a pineapple. Now Hermit Pineapples have a distinctive dislike for any form of light. They will use their roots to propel themselves out of any source of light and secure themselves in a new home. In the wild this can range from rabbit holes down to worm holes depending on the size of the Hermit Pineapples. Now we are dealing with young saplings so they are quite small but this is ironically the reason why they are so dangerous."

"How can they be dangerous if they are only saplings?" asked one of the Hufflepuff students raising his hand.

"Well they aren't dangerous enough to kill but they will certainly hurt you which is why we need the plugs and guards," advised Sprout.

She pulled up two upturned plant pots one about half the size of the other, both had small round holds at the top, while the smaller one sat on a large square wooden board.

"Now I'll show you what we'll be doing before I give you out the actual Hermit Pineapples," said Sprout. She pointed to the top of the pots where the small holes were. "Now you'll see the leaves sticking out of the top here. Do not, I repeat, do not try and pull them out this way. The roots will just dig themselves in and it'll be next to impossible to move them. Instead we put the larger pot onto the stools next to you and then slide the small pots off their board where they will immediately empty into the larger pot. Once that is done you will need to quickly move the small pot and put the wooden board over larger pot. Then flip the wooden board and large pot over onto the table, the Hermit Pineapple will automatically make its way up the pot to put its leaves out of the hole. After that we can add more soil to the pot but we'll just get this first part out of the way."

"The important thing," said Sprout as she started handing out the larger pots, "is to make sure you quickly put the board on top once you empty the smaller pot. Also do not forget your plugs and guards, make sure the guards are strapped around your shirts and trouser legs."

"Why do we need these?" asked Fred, pointing at the protective equipment.

"Because if the transfer to the new pots does not go smoothly the Hermit Pineapple's roots immediately search for a new home and the nearest thing they usually find is the person doing the repotting. The last thing you want is a Hermit Pineapple trying to make itself a new home in one of your nostrils. They are extremely hard to remove."

"Oh okay," said Lee, looking at Fred and George and rolling his eyes.

"Excellent," said Sprout once everyone had their pots and boards in place. She started to slide out the smaller pots onto the table; each one had spikey leaves sticking out of the top. "Now put on your plugs and guards. On my count you are to take a deep breath and hold it with your mouths closed while we quickly move the plants."

She waited for everyone to get themselves ready.

"Everybody on the count of three. One… two… three!"

There was a scraping sound as everyone pulled their small pots over the larger one and transferred the soil, followed by series of loud bangs as the students covered the pots with the wooden boards and flipped them over onto the table. Almost everyone had completed the actions without any trouble, however further down the line there was a loud crash followed by panicked cries from Lee.

"I forgot the ankle guards!" shouted Lee, as Professor Sprout hurried over towards him. "It's going up my trouser leg! It's up my trouser leg… it's… it's… oh no."

"Ah yes," said Sprout, as Lee went wide and he suddenly winced while letting out a whimper. "That's the reasons for the ankle guards. I'll bring you to the Infirmary. Are you able to walk?"

"I think so," said Lee, in a higher pitched voice than normal. "Just slowly."

"Very good," said Sprout. She turned to the rest of the glass. "Leave the pots where they are. Take out your books and read the chapter on Hermit Pineapples, page one hundred and thirteen I think. I'll be back in about ten minutes."

Lee slowly waddled out of the room, taking very very tiny steps.

"Better make that twenty," advised Sprout.

* * *

Miro met Lexington outside an old church in London; both were carrying small suitcases which contained a couple of changes of clothes. It was an unassuming street and no one gave them a second glance. Next to the church was an old abandoned building which had long since been condemned with various warning posters stuck on the side of the brickwork telling people they needed to say away for their own safety.

"All set?" asked Lexington. He nodded at the abandoned building and the two men started towards it "You ever been?"

"No," said Miro as they approached the building. "Never had the chance until now."

"I went a few times when I was younger. Last time was part of an International joint operation between the Ministry and MACUSA," said Lexington.

"The Magical Congress?" said Miro, referring to the United States of America's version of the Ministry of Magic.

"Yeah. It was quite a manhunt I can tell you," said Lexington, nodding his head.

As they approached the building it slowly started to change. The brickwork was no longer crumbling and patchy. The windows were whole and the roof was no longer collapsed. It now looked just like any other building in London, with the possible exception of two stern looking uniformed men standing either side of the doors. They watched as Miro and Lexington approached but neither made any moves to stop them as they went inside.

"Did you catch him?" said Miro, as they entered the lobby of the building. There were a number of signs on the wall telling people where to go depending on the department they required.

"What?" asked Lexington absentmindedly as he tried to read the signs. He finally found what he was looking for and pointed the way. "Oh yes, we got our man in the end. Of course by the time was had caught up with him he had committed crimes on both sides of the Atlantic there was a bit of an argument about who should take custody of the prisoner. We prevailed in the end."

"And they were okay with that?" asked Miro, they had made their way to a lift and stepped inside.

"More or less," said Lexington. He tapped a finger on one of the buttons and waited for the doors to close. The ex-Auror frowned for a moment. "I'm sure they've gotten over it by now."

They stepped out into the corridor and looked at the sign opposite the lift doors. It read 'Inbound Travel Authorisation Depart' with an arrow pointing to the left. They turned down the corridor and made their way through a door at the far end. Inside was a large waiting room which was filled with about two dozen or so wizards waiting to be called up to one of the three hatches where an official was sat on the other side. There was a machine which printed out a ticket number. Miro and Lexington took a ticket and waited. And waited. And waited some more.

"Number fifty two," said a voice coming out of the one of speakers above the hatches.

"About time," grumbled Lexington as he forced himself to stand. They made their way over to the hatch. It had a small partition so that the person in the hatch next to it couldn't hear everything that was being said.

"Well hi there," said the woman behind the counter with a bright wide smile. "Planning on travelling to the States?"

"Yes," said Lexington.

"Excellent. Both travelling together?" asked the woman.

"Yes, said Lexington as Miro nodded his confirmation.

"Perfect. If you could just provide me with your wands we can get you approved quick as a flash." She pointed to a drawer just next to the hatch that jutted out.

Miro and Lexington deposited their wands as instructed and the woman pulled a lever on the other side of the hatch which closed the drawer on one side and opened it up on the other. The woman removed the two wands and brought them over to a second desk which had a large number of cabinets behind. She placed Miro's wand in a hole on the desk so that the handle was sticking up in the air before waving her own wand over it. A few seconds later one of the cabinets at the back opened and a small file with only a few pages floated down next to the woman. She the removed Miro's wand and repeated the whole process with Lexington's, this time producing a much larger file that gave out a loud bang as it hit the desk. The woman flicked through the first few pages of both files before pressing a button on the table next to her. She then turned back around and returned to the hatch.

"Won't be a moment," she said smiling at the two men.

"Everything okay?" asked Lexington.

"Oh yes," nodded the woman, still smiling.

"Miro," whispered Lexington, after letting out a long sigh. "Tell them you are accompanying me for treatment for something I was too embarrassed to tell you about. You've never been to the States and you really wanted to see it."

"What?" replied Miro, frowning.

"Bernard Lexington? Miro Franca?" said a voice from behind them. The pair turned to see if belonged to a rather large man who was as broad as he was tall. There was a second equally huge man next to him.

"Yes?" said Lexington.

"Could you come with us please?" It was phrased as a question but it was spoken in such a way that implied there was only one suitable answer that didn't involve a violent turn of events.

"Of course," said Lexington.

The men led Miro and Lexington through back down the corridor they had used previously but this time passed by the lift and into another shorter corridor. At this point they were split up and Miro, without his suitcase, was brought into a new room. This one had just two chairs sat either side of a plain simple desk.

"Wait here," ordered the man before closing the door. It closed and Miro could hear a faint click as it was locked.

Looking around Miro quickly realised there was nothing else in the room; just the desk, the chairs, and now him. He wasn't sure how long he waited in the room as there was no clock and he didn't carry a watch, but if he had to guess he would have said it was a good half an hour before someone came in. He was a short man, not as small as Professor Flitwick at Hogwarts, but he was small enough to have a little trouble getting onto the chair. He placed Miro's file down on the table and flicked it open.

"Mirro Fransa?" said the man after a few moments of reading from the first page.

"Miro Franca," said Miro, correcting the man's pronunciation.

"My-row Fran-kah," repeated the man before closing the file. "My name is Rodrick Grimsditch; I am an Auror with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I understand that you were training to be an Auror yourself."

"Yes, that's right Mr Grimsditch," said Miro politely.

"Agent Grimsditch," corrected the man. "But you never completed your training. Why was that?"

"Because they wanted me to lie about an incident I helped investigate with Mr Lexington. I'm sorry, but why am I in here?"

"Ah yes," said Grimsditch, opening the file again. He traced his finger along some of the words. "You claimed to have fought a Kosa. A species that is extinct."

"That's right," said Miro.

"But there was no evidence, no witnesses, apart from you and Mr Lexington of course," said Grimsditch.

"Why would we lie about that?"

"Why do you wish to visit the U.S.?" said Grimsditch ignoring the question. He watched Miro's face closely.

"Mr Lexington is going for treatment in New York, and he asked if I wanted to go with him since I had never been," said Miro.

"Treatment for what?"

"I don't know, he wouldn't tell me," replied Miro.

"Well that matches with what Mr Lexington has told us," said Grimsditch, closing the file again.

"Okay," said Miro slowly.

"Mr Franca, unfortunately I have been placed in an unenviable position. I'm not entire sure Mr Lexington is going for treatment in the States, because why would he need to go there while St Mungo's, arguably the finest medical institution in the world, is right here in London?"

"You'll have to ask Mr Lexington about that."

"Oh we did, but Mr Lexington doesn't exactly have the best reputation around these parts for telling us the whole truth, so that's why I'm asking you."

"I don't know anything about his condition," explained Miro.

"Mr Franca," said Grimsditch, forming his fingers into a steeple and looking over them at Miro. "On staff, we have a very accomplished, naturally gifted, Legilimens who could read your mind in a heartbeat. Do you want me to go and get Ms Kowalski or do you want to tell me the truth?"

"As I've already said, I don't know anything about his condition," stated Miro firmly.

"You leave me no choice," said Grimsditch, standing and picking up the file. He paused for a moment. "Mr Franca, when you entered this building you technically entered American soil, which means if you lie to me I can have you arrested and charged."

"Good thing, I'm not lying then isn't it?" said Miro.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," said the man leaving the room.

Miro started to panic the moment he was in the room on his own. As part of his Auror training he had learnt to resist Legilimency, the magic art of mind reading, to a certain degree but even then he only had a partial success rate and he had certainly never gone up against someone who was a natural Legilimens. He looked at the door and wonder if he could make an escape before anyone came back, but before he could make any decision the door was already being opened.

In stepped Grimsditch and with him he brought a young woman with long golden hair that reached down to her waist in waves of soft curls. She had a bright blue eyes and Miro thought that she was probably the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

"Oh, thanks, honey," said the woman, breaking into a wide friendly smile.

"I didn't say any…oh," said Miro, thinking this was going to be much harder than he thought. Then realised what he was doing and desperately tried not to think at all.

"Mr Franca," said Grimsditch sitting down with a triumphant look on his face. "What is the reason, the _real_ reason, that you and Mr Lexington are requesting travel to the U.S.?"

"Mr Lexington is going for treatment in New York. I don't know what's wrong with him because he never told me. And he is bringing me along as I have never been to America," said Miro, trying his best to keep his voice even.

"Ms Kowalski?"

The woman stepped forward and placed a hand on Miro's cheek. It felt soft and warm and… suddenly images started to flood into Miro's mind. The office in Knockturn Alley. Mrs Formby. The silver key. The book. And finally the real reason they were going to the Gröning Institute in New York. The woman removed her hand and Miro let out a defeated sigh.

"Well?" said Grimsditch.

"It's like he said," said Ms Kowalski, shrugging her shoulders. "His friend is sick, but never told him with what. He's telling the truth."

"Thank you Ms Kowalski, you may go," said Grimsditch after a few seconds. He waited for the woman to leave before he turned back to Miro and opened the file. "I'm very sorry to detain you Mr Franca. Please enjoy your stay in my country."

"Okay," said Miro, trying to hide his delight at having resisted the attempted Legilimency. Mr Grimsditch stamped a form and passed it over to Miro along with his wand which the man had taken out of his inside pocket. Miro took both and waited in case there was anything further that he needed to do.

Grimsditch stood and directed him to follow. The agent led him back to the previous waiting area, where his suitcase had been left for him, and was told that Lexington would join him shortly. About ten minutes later his friend appeared and they both made their way back to the lifts. Lexington had a stamped form just like Miro which had the words 'departure point – sublevel one' written in bold red letters. Lexington pressed the corresponding button on the lift.

"What are you looking so pleased for?" asked Lexington looking over at him.

"I beat a Legilimens," said Miro.

"No," said Lexington, as the lift came to a stop and the doors opened. "You really didn't. Ah, Amy, how are you?"

It was Ms Kowalski. She was waiting opposite the lift as it opened and embraced Lexington as he stepped out into the corridor.

"I'm good Bernie," said Amy. "And you?"

"I don't…" said Miro, looking confused.

"I know Amy's great uncle and aunt rather well," explained Lexington. "And she makes some of the best pastries I've ever tasted."

"A gift from my grandfather, the Legilimency was from my grandmother," explained Amy.

"So I didn't…"

"Beat me? Oh, no honey you were just plain awful. Like an open book," said Amy, laughing. She looked up and down the corridor and turned to Lexington. "You better hurry Bernie; if I'm spotted with you they'll drag you back into interrogation for sure."

"Okay, say hi to your family for me," said Lexington, squeezing the woman warmly on the arm.

"Nice to meet you," Amy said to Miro as they left.

"You too," said Miro. He hurried along next to Lexington. "That was lucky."

"Luck had nothing to do with it," said Lexington. "I knew Amy worked here. Why do you think I picked this place? If I wanted to sneak into America it's easily done. No, officially entering the country is the wisest course of action. This way we don't have to avoid any authorities when we're over there."

The corridor led to a door which led to a large room with a set of double doors on the far side. In front of the double doors stood an official behind a lectern who beckoned forward people from a queue, each person would hand over some documents which the man would check before stamping and waving them through the double doors which were open. Waiting in the queue Miro looked through the double doors and into the room beyond. Even though they had travelled down to the first basement level in the lift the windows in the other room seemed to indicate that they were quite high up.

Eventually they were called forward by the official and Miro handed over the form that had been stamped by Grimsditch. The man took one look at who had signed the form and waved them through instantly. As they approached the double doors Miro noticed that the air started to feel thicker and thicker until suddenly he felt his ears popping and he was stepping through into the next room.

"Well then," said Lexington, gesturing towards the window where Miro realised he could see a large number of tall skyscrapers. "Welcome to New York."


	12. Chapter 12

Fred and George finished their Transfiguration lesson and headed up to the Hospital Wing to visit Lee and bring him a copy of the work they had been doing. Usually the twins wouldn't have bothered, but McGonagall insisted that if they were going to see their friend that they had to bring his work with him so that he didn't fall behind.

They made their way into the Infirmary and waved a hello at Ron and Harry who were visiting Hermione like they did on most days.

"Alright Jordan," said George, dropping down into one of the chairs next to the bed.

"Hey guys," said Lee, who was lying on his front with his arms crossed under his chin and a pillow wedged under his arms.

"When you getting out," said Fred.

"Probably today," said Lee. "Madam Pomfrey just has to check my… er…"

"Bum," said Fred, finishing the sentence. "She has to check your bum."

"Yes, I know," said Lee, tersely. He let out an exasperated sigh. "Does everyone know?"

"Of course they do," said George, slapping his friend on his shoulder. "Someone told the whole school, and wrote to Charlie and Bill about it, and drew a picture that they stuck up on the notice board in the Common Room. Don't know who it was. Probably Angelina."

"I hate you guys," muttered Lee.

"I'm just kidding," said George.

"Really?"

"Yeah, McGonagall made us take the picture off the notice board, so we put it in a frame and it's on the mantelpiece above the fire in the Common Room," advised George.

"Could be worse," said Fred, nodding his head towards where the Petrified bodies of Colin Creevy and Justin Finch-Fletchley were laid behind the curtains.

"Yeah, do you think she coughs up fur-balls?" asked George, looking over towards Hermione's bed.

"What? I meant them," said Fred, pointing.

"Oh yes, that would be horrible too," added George.

"Mr Jordan," said Madam Pomfrey approaching the bed, she dragged with her a curtain. "One final check and you should be free to leave." She pulled the curtain around and looked expectantly at Fred and George; neither moved. "Excuse me gentlemen."

"Oh, carry on," said Fred, waving his hand towards Lee.

"Don't let us stop you," said George encouragingly.

"Out," ordered Madam Pomfrey pointing towards the door.

"Fine," said George. "See you later Lee, and don't worry I'm sure when you get back you won't be the butt of anymore jokes."

"Yes," agreed Fred. "I'll have words with anyone that takes a crack at you."

Madam Pomfrey popped her head around the curtain and gave them both a very stern look.

"We're going, we're going," said Fred, holding his hands up.

"I don't know why people get so arsey," said George, shaking his head. He waved at Ron and Harry as he left.

"I'm sure one day we'll get to the bottom of it," said Fred, grinning. A loud sigh from Pomfrey caused them to quicken their pace as they left the room.

They headed down to the Great Hall where dinner was already underway and found a couple of spare seats at the far end of the room and sat down. They ate with great gusto and chatted about the upcoming match against Hufflepuff that was due in a few weeks and the fact that they were surprised that Oliver hadn't already started making them do extra training in preparation. Halfway through their meal they were joined by Lee who was grateful to be able to eat something other than the food provided by Madam Pomfrey, which tended to be given based on their health properties rather than taste.

With the meal finished the boys pushed their plates away and stayed for a while to chat with Hagrid. The gamekeeper had come down to the Great Hall late as he had been dealing with several dead roosters, which he suspected had been killed by something coming out of the Forbidden Forest looking for an easy meal.

"Come on," said Lee, eventually, as he looked over at the clock. "I've got to get a start on that Potion's homework. Three feet by tomorrow. I don't supposed I could have a look at yours can I?"

"Yeah, no problem," said George. "See ya, Hagrid."

"Bye lads," said the gamekeeper as he heaped another pile of food onto his plate.

The trio left the Great Hall and made their way back to the Gryffindor Common Room. Just as they got to the portrait of the Fat Lady they almost bumped into Percy who was hurrying out.

"Careful there Percy," said Fred, stepping back before his brother stood on his feet.

"Sorry," said Percy, taken aback at their presence. "I'm late for my patrol."

"How come other prefects don't have to patrol half as much as you do?" asked George.

"Because _some_ prefects don't take their position as seriously as I do," said Percy haughtily. "Now, if you will excuse me."

"The Minister of Magic doesn't take his position as seriously as Percy does," commented Lee, as the older boy disappeared down the corridor.

"Seriously though," said George, "I was talking to one of the prefects from Hufflepuff and they said that Percy has basically signed up for all the late night patrols."

"He thinks he's protecting the school," said Fred, shaking his head. The three boys made their way inside to the Common Room.

"That mugwump is trying to make himself look good so he can be made Head Boy next year," added George. One of the tables in the corner was free and the boys made themselves at home.

"So… can I look at your Potion's homework?" said Lee once they had got settled.

"Oh sure," said George taking out a parchment and handing it over.

"It's blank," said Lee, after a few seconds of looking at the paper.

"Yep," nodded George.

"You know you could have just said you hadn't done it either," sighed Lee, taking out his Potion's book.

"Yes, but you looked so happy when I said you could copy off me," said George.

The three boys struggled through their homework as best as they could and then rewrote most of it after George managed to convince Angelina to show them what she had written. Halfway through the evening Harry and Ron came into the Common Room having been visiting Hermione, who was still insisting on doing all of her school work despite being in the Infirmary, and sat down them to play a few rounds of Exploding Snap much to the annoyance of Angelina and Alicia who were trying to complete their Charms homework.

"Ha snap!" shouted Fred, slamming his hand down onto the cards which exploded under his palm with a loud bang. "Ow."

"You do know these cards shouldn't hurt that much when they explode?" said Lee, as Fred blew onto his hand. "Where did you get them from?"

"There was an advert for discounted stuff in the Daily Prophet," said George. He waved a hand at the cards on the table. "These were really cheap."

"I can see why… snap," said Lee, smashing his hand down causing the cards to explode again. "Ow… and they are only supposed to explode at random, not when we hit them."

"You're just saying that because you're losing," replied Fred.

"I have at least twice as many cards as you do," said Lee, nodding at the pile his friend held in his hand.

"Yeah I know."

"The point of the game is to get the most cards at the end, not get rid of them as quickly as you can," said Ron, looking over at his brother.

"What? Really?" asked Fred, turning to check with each of the players if this was correct.

"Have you been playing this wrong the whole time?" asked George.

"No, no, no," said Fred quickly. "I remember when Charlie used to play with me he told me that it was the first person to get rid of the cards was the winner."

"Yeah, Charlie lied," said George.

"Wait a minute, is that why when we play this and you run out of cards first you jump up and run around shouting 'champion'?" said Lee.

"Well… yes," said Fred, crestfallen. "What did you think I was doing?"

"Being an idiot," said Ron. "Like normal."

"Seriously? I've been playing cards since the first year. I've been playing with _you_ …" Fred pointed at George when he said this, "since we were about five. I would have thought someone would have said something."

"Pretty sure I've said it every time we've played," said Lee.

"I thought you were just jealous because I kept winning."

"Er… guys, should they be doing this?" asked Harry, holding his deck out as far away as he could. His cards had started to smoke at an alarming rate.

"Maybe you should…" said George, placing his own cards down on the table just in case, the rest followed suit.

"Good idea," said Harry, very carefully putting the cards down onto the pile which was also now starting to smoke.

"Should we try and put them back into the pack?" asked Ron.

"You're free to try," said George, handing the boy the container.

"Nah, you're alright…"

BANG!

There was a huge sharp explosion which sent the cards flying in all different directions as each one landed they in turn exploded in turn resulting in a number of students diving for cover as it sounded like a firecracker had been lit and thrown into the Common Room.

"Sorry, everyone," said George, as the last of the cards finished exploding.

"Not our fault," said Fred, holding his hands up. "Dodgy cards."

"Can't you just use normal cards?" complained Angelina.

"We could, but where's the fun in that," replied Fred.

"Just because it explodes doesn't make it fun," said Alicia.

"That's true, just look at Seamus in our year. He's always causing things to blow up," laughed Ron.

"Yeah, cos you can talk," said George, pointing at Ron's wand which was sticking out of his pocket. He had broken it earlier in the year and it was now held together by tape. "You nearly singed your own eyebrow off the other day trying a disarming spell."

"Well it's a tricky spell," said Ron, indignantly. "And one of you two always end up with no eyebrows at some point during the year."

"That's because we shave them off, not because we curse them off," replied George.

"That's not much better," advised Lee.

"Fair enough," conceded George, shrugging.

"Oh no, no, no," complained Alicia, as she quickly flicked through the books in her bag.

"Sounds like McGonagall when she's marking our homework," chortled Fred, nodding his head towards the girl.

"What's up Alicia?" asked Lee.

"I meant to take a book out of the library but I must have left it down there. I need it for my Charms if I'm going to get top marks."

"Just go down to the library and get it now," said Harry.

"I can't," said Alicia, looking up at the clock. "It's too late to go back down; we're not supposed to be out of the Tower."

"Says who?" asked George.

"Er… McGonagall, Dumbledore, Flitwick, Snape…" said Alicia, counting them off on her fingers.

"Yeah, I mean beside the teachers," said George, dismissively.

"The prefects, the Head Boy, the Head Girl…" continued Alicia.

"How about we get the book for you, if you let us have a quick look at your Transfiguration homework?" said Fred.

"She's doing Charms not Transfiguration," explained Lee.

"I know that, but I don't need help with my Charms," replied Fred.

"You got the same mark as me in the last piece of homework and I definitely need help with my Charms," said Lee.

"Deal," said Alicia, quickly before the conversation derailed into a petty argument. "If you can get me that book in the next half an hour I'll let you look at my Transfiguration homework."

"Great, what's the book?" asked Fred.

"McQuigley's Advance Charms Volume two," said Alicia. "Make sure it's volume two _and_ no earlier than the twelfth edition. Remember that."

"Volume two, twelfth edition," said Fred, repeating the details to himself. "Okay, that sounds fine. You coming?"

"No chance," said Lee. He nodded at the fire. "It's freezing out there."

"You?" said Fred, turning to his twin.

"Fine," sighed George. "You'd only get in trouble if you went on your own."

"I'm pretty sure you being with me won't stop me getting into trouble," said Fred.

"Exactly. Why should you get all the fun?" said George.

The twins made their way out of Gryffindor Tower and down to the library through various short cuts and hidden passageways. They used a secondary entrance to gain access to the library that they suspected not even Madam Pince knew about, just in case she had placed an Alarm Spell on the main door, and quickly located the book. There was a slight disagreement regarding the volume and edition number, so in the end Fred and George ended up taking a different version each just to be on the safe side.

As Fred and George stepped out into the corridor outside the library they heard something approaching. Someone was muttering to themselves as they made their way around the corner. Fred pointed towards a small staircase that would lead them up a level and George nodded his agreement. The pair quickly made their way across the hallway and down the stairs. Fred kept looking to see who it was that was approaching.

"It's Filch," said Fred, joining his brother on the level above.

"Okay, if we cut across here we should be fine," said George, pointing the way.

No sooner than they had taken two steps they heard the unmistakable sound of Peeves the Poltergeist screeching towards them from the direction they were planning on going. The twins had no option but to turn the other way. Although Peeves had on occasions approved of their general misbehaviour around school, neither Fred nor George could rely on the Poltergeist to keep their presence a secret if he spotted them, since it would completely depend on his mood which had a habit of changing at any given moment.

They eventually made their way towards Ravenclaw Tower with the idea of doubling back on themselves once they had put a bit of distance between them and anyone who might get them into trouble; like Percy for instance, who Fred bumped into as he rounded a corner.

"What are you doing out of Gryffindor Tower?" snapped Percy, looking furious.

"We had to get a book from the library," explained Fred, holding up the book. George did the same.

"From the… the library isn't even open," said Percy, frowning. His eyes went wide for a moment. "Did you steal those books from the library?"

"Borrow Percy, you borrow books from the library," explained George helpfully.

"You're lucky I don't put you both in detention," said Percy. "You shouldn't be out at this time. It's dangerous."

"You're out."

"Because I am a prefect, Fred," said Percy, tapping his prefect's badge for good measure. "Nothing will happen to me, but you two need to head straight back to Gryffindor House this instance."

"That's what we're trying to do," said George. "But we ran into Peeves and Filch and we got a bit side-tracked trying to avoid them."

"Fine, you head that way and it'll bring you onto the corridor with the portrait of Bigley the Snide, and you should be able to find your way back from there," said Percy, pointing.

"Obviously," scoffed Fred. "Where do you think we were going Percy?"

"I dread to thi… shh," said Percy, stopping mid-sentence. They could hear someone walk towards them. "You go; I'll talk to whoever that is."

"Nice one Percy," said George, slapping his brother on the shoulder. "See? You can be cool."

"I'm a prefect," said Percy, straightening his tie. "I'm already cool."

"Sure Percy, sure," said Fred, rolling his eyes.

The twins headed down towards where Percy had indicated while their brother went to head off the new arrival.

"Ah Miss Clearwater, you're on patrol as well…" they heard Percy say before they were too far away to hear him anymore.

There were no other interruptions as they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower. The school was always cold at night, especially during the winter months and the two boys were grateful to get back to the warmth of the Common Room.

"You're a life saver," said Alicia, as George handed her his book. She read the cover for a moment and looked up at him. "I said volume _two_ , _twelfth_ edition. This is volume twelve, second edition. It's useless."

"Once again, Fred to the rescue," said Fred, dropping his book onto the table. "Volume two, twelfth edition, as ordered.

"Perfect, _you_ are a life saver," said Alicia, letting out a sigh of relief. She dug her hand into her bag and pulled out a parchment. "Here's the Transfiguration for you to look over."

"A pleasure doing business with you," said Fred, taking the parchment and sitting down next to Lee on the sofa as he scanned through it.

"Why didn't you ask to see her Charms homework when she's finished with it? We don't need to hand in that Transfiguration until next week," said Lee.

"Because I know what book I'll need now to get a good mark in Charms," said Fred, tapping his head with his finger. "This way I'll get a good mark in Transfiguration too."

"Plus there's another much better reason why you'd put Transfiguration ahead of Charms," said George. "McGonagall is about a hundred times scarier than Flitwick."

* * *

The Gröning Institute was located next to a hotel around the corner of a large department store. To muggle eyes it looked like a non-descript apartment block with dark brown bricks and faded red door leading out onto the street, that's if they even looked at the building. In fact, due to various enchantments places on the building most muggles, or no-majs as they were known locally, found that they barely registered the place in their mind as they walked passed. If the owners of the hotel were asked what was next to them they would have simply answered 'a coffee shop' which is what was actually on the other side of the Gröning Institute.

The pair entered the unassuming building through the red door which led into a grand lobby decked in marble and expensively looking furniture. There was a reception area with a kind looking, tall but thin man sat behind a desk.

"Hi there, how can I help you today?" said the man.

"Hello, we're looking for Mr Bellingsbee," said Lexington. "I believe he works here."

"Ah yes, Patrick," said the man, nodding his head. "He's down in custodial services. Just go through those doors, and follow the corridor all the way and down the stairs. His office will be directly in front of you."

"Thanks," said Lexington, following the man's directions.

"Your inside man is a caretaker?" asked Miro.

"He prefers 'custodian' but yes," nodded Lexington. "In any organisation always make sure to befriend those who are seen to be at the bottom of the ladder. They are often overlooked and treated as though they are invisible. As such people will happy say things in front of them or let them go wherever they want without a second thought. For instance; can you Apparate within the school grounds at Hogwarts?"

"No, it's impossible," said Miro, "except for when they are teaching students how to Apparate, then they lift the block."

"Impossible for wizards," said Lexington pointedly, "not for House Elves."

"Really?"

"Yep, they either forgot to include House Elves or just didn't think they were important enough. Either way a House Elf can Apparate into Hogwarts while the Minister of Magic himself cannot."

They reached the door which had a carefully carved plaque attached that stated 'Chief Custodian – Patrick Bellingsbee' in ornate lettering. Lexington knocked loudly and after a few seconds the door slowly swung open.

"Patrick?" called Lexington stepping into the room.

Inside it was very cluttered. The room itself was huge but every spare space was taken up with various boxes and containers all holding numerous items that looked like they were broken, or discarded, or both.

"Lexington? Is that you?" said a voice which quickly popped up behind a box. The man was balding with a large pair of glasses with extra thick lenses that made his eyes look huge and reminded Miro of an owl. "It is you. How's it going, old friend?"

"All the better for seeing you," said Lexington.

"I didn't expect to see you in person. I'm surprised they let you into the country after last time," said Bellingsbee, coming out from behind his desk and giving Lexington a hug.

"All been resolved, more or less," said Lexington quickly. "This is my business partner Miro Franca, Miro this is Patrick Bellingsbee. Former Auror with MACUSA, current custodian of the Gröning Institute."

"I know what you're thinking," said Bellingsbee, shaking Miro's hand. "How do you go from catching Dark Wizards to sweeping floors? I retired and quite frankly sitting at home all day just didn't do it for me. So I work here and keep the old place clean, and I try my hand at trying to fix whatever I can whenever I can."

"You can probably throw out half of this stuff," commented Lexington looking around the room.

"One man's waste is another man's treasure," countered Bellingsbee. He rubbed his hands together. "Now, shall we get down to business? Unless you came all this way to discuss broken light fittings. The man you want is in a private room on the fourth floor of the Gibbens Wing under the name Ardmore Wentworth. Follow me and I'll bring you the quickest way. What did he do anyway?"

"Maybe nothing, maybe tried to break into our office," said Lexington shrugging.

"Is this going to end in violence?" asked Bellingsbee, pausing at the door.

"Depends on how Mr Wentworth wants this to go."

"Better bring my mop as well then," sighed Bellingsbee, picking the mop up from its bucket and wringing it dry in the attached mangle. He picked up two more mops and handed them to Miro and Lexington. "Only thing better would be invisibility cloaks. I'll keep guard at the door and perform an Impertubable Charm on it so people can't hear what goes on inside. There's an Anti-Disapparition Jinx on the hospital so don't worry about him Apparating away."

They took a service lift up to the fourth floor and stepped out into the busy corridor. Bellingsbee had been right; no one paid them a second glance once they spotted the mops. At the far end of the corridor was the room they were looking for. The custodian went in first under the guise of cleaning the floor before coming out and nodding at Lexington that the coast was clear.

"Mr Wentworth," said Lexington striding into the room with his wand aimed at the man in the bed. Half of his face was badly disfigured and he still had a bandaged wrapped over one eye. "I'm so sorry I missed you at my office the other day. Ah ah, no sudden movements if you don't mind. Miro, the wand if you please."

Miro removed the wand from the side desk next to the hospital bed which the man had just made a motion toward. He put Wentworth's wand into his pocket while continuing to aim his own wand.

"You have something that doesn't belong to you," said Wentworth, settling back into his bed.

"You're going to have to be more specific," replied Lexington.

"A book, it belongs to me and my associates. It was stolen from us and we paid a great deal of money to have it returned," said Wentworth.

"You paid Mr Formby to get it didn't you?"

"How else would we have got it out of Egypt? No one pays too much attention to Gringotts' shipments not unless you want to annoy the goblins," said Wentworth, letting out a cough. "All he had to do was not look in the package. But he couldn't do that. He just had to stick his nose in where it wasn't wanted."

"Where is Mr Formby now?" asked Miro.

"We're all big boys here, I think we all know where he is now," replied the man. "He threatened to tell the Ministry. Couldn't have that now, could I?"

"So what's the book for?" said Lexington.

"Light reading before bed time," said Wentworth, trying to smile but getting cut short by another cough.

"I could make you tell me you know?" said Lexington, waving his wand slightly. "I'm sure it would be more pleasant all round if you were just a bit more forthcoming."

"Yes well…" began Wentworth before he started coughing again. This time he showed no signs of stopping and with each break in the coughing he struggled to take in a breath. Finally he managed to rasp out a request for water whilst pointing to a glass and jug on a nearby table.

"It's okay," said Lexington as Miro looked over to him for confirmation. "No use to us if he can't talk."

While still keeping his wand on the man, Miro carefully poured out a glass of water and held it out. The man nodded his thanks and reached for the glass. Suddenly his hand lurched forward and grabbed Miro's wrist before he could react causing him to drop the glass onto the covers. Wentworth pulled him towards the bed whilst swinging his legs out of the covers. Miro tried to fire off a spell but the man had already grabbed his other wrist forcing the wand downward so that the spell hit the tiles on the floor without effect.

Wentworth forced Miro's wand wrist to bend and he used the leverage to spin him around so that he could grab him around the neck from behind.

"Careful, you have no place to go," ordered Lexington as the man continued to use Miro as a human shield.

Wentworth looked around the room. The only way out was the door behind Lexington. At that moment Miro leant forward before jerking his head backwards and connecting with the bridge of Wentworth's nose. The man cried out in pain and let go of his captive. Miro span around and pushed him away. Wentworth's legs hit the bed and he tumbled backwards and over onto the floor on the other side.

"Just tell us what we want to know," snapped Miro, annoyed with himself that he had been briefly overpowered.

"And then you'll let me go?" scoffed Wentworth who was ducked down protectively behind the bed.

"Then we'll take you into custody and make sure you pay for your crimes," explained Lexington, cautiously side stepping around the room.

"You have no authority here," said Wentworth.

"This," said Lexington, waving his wand, "gives me authority."

"When he rises again the Heir will wipe you from existence," snarled Wentworth.

He reached onto the bed, picked up the empty glass and threw it. Lexington automatically used a spell to deflect the glass against the wall where it smashed. He aimed his wand back towards Wentworth but his target was already on the move.

Wentworth ducked until Miro's attempted Stunning Spell and raced towards the window. He jumped with his arms folded in front of his head and smashed through the glass. Miro and Lexington raced towards the window and looked down just in time to see a bloody Wentworth Disapparate in mid-air.

"Well, I don't know about fun," said Bellingsbee as he looked around the room. He had rushed in at the sound of the window smashing. "But your visits are always certainly memorable Bernard."


	13. Chapter 13

After a few weeks of the new term everything pretty much settled into the usual routine. The teachers piled on the homework. Oliver scheduled a ridiculous amount of Quidditch practice. Filch stomped about the castle complaining about students. Moaning Myrtle flooded her bathroom on at least one occasion. And Fred and George regularly spent time narrowly avoiding being placed in detention. Even Peeves, who had taken to singing 'Potter you rotter, oh, what have you done? You're killing off students, you think it's good fun' at Harry every chance he got, became fed up with the predictability and chose to add some new dance moves to his repertoire.

In early February Hermione had returned enough to her old self that she was allowed out of the Hospital Wing which caused a great deal of excitement, as people started to badger her for an explanation for her disappearance. However, students were left disappointed when it soon became apparent that she had no intention of revealing the reason for her stay in the Infirmary.

The mood in the school had grown more hopeful since the start of the year. There had been no new attacks since those on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, and Madam Sprout was pleased to report that the Mandrakes which were to be used to unpetrify those that had been attacked were maturing nicely.

"I overheard Pomfrey talking to Filch the other day," said Lee, as he and the twins made their way down to breakfast. "Apparently the Mandrakes have to be repotted one more time and then left to fully grow for a bit longer. Then they'll be able to brew the potion to revive everyone."

"Including Mrs Norris?" sighed Fred. "I would say that having that cat back might make Filch less angry but he wasn't exactly laid back before she was Petrified."

"You never know, we might get lucky and the potion might not work on a cat," said George.

"When are we ever that lucky?" wondered Fred. He let out a yawn which he tried to stifle against the back of his hand. The Quidditch team had a late night practice the previous night that overran.

The boys made their way into the Great Hall and stopped at the door with their mouths open. The walls were all covered with large, lurid pink flowers, while heart-shaped confetti fell from the pale blue ceiling. At the teachers' table sat Lockhart, wearing robes that matched the decorations, and the rest of the faculty who looked decidedly stony-faced in their usual clothing.

"What in Godric's name is going on?" said Fred, as the boys found their usual spot on the Gryffindor table.

"I think it's nice," said Alicia as he sat down next to her. She looked around the room. "Well… maybe a little over the top."

"A little?" said George, sarcastically. A firework arched through the air leaving a trail of heart-shaped clouds in its wake and exploded into dozens of smaller hearts.

"Okay, maybe it's a lot over the top," conceded Alicia. "But this place could use a little cheering up at the moment."

After a while Lockhart rose to his feet and waved the room into silence.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Lockhart shouted. "And may I think the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards! Yes, I've taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all… and it doesn't end here!"

He clapped his hands together and through the doors to the entrance hall marched a dozen surly-looking dwarfs all wearing matching golden wings and carrying harps.

"My friendly, card-carrying cupids!" beamed Lockhart. "They will be roving around the school today delivering your valentines! And the fun doesn't stop here! I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion! And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog!"

If looks could kill then Snape's expression would have been enough to wipe out the whole school and a large portion of the population of Hogsmeade. Flitwick just buried his face in his hands.

"I take it back," said George, smiling. "This is going to be awesome."

Lee quickly understood what his friend had meant as halfway through their first class two of the dwarfs barged into their Charms lesson and looked at the students as though they were sizing them up.

"Lee Jordan?" barked one of the dwarfs.

"Er… yes?" said Lee. Every head turned to look at him.

"Ahem," said the dwarf, twanging a note on his harp. He then began to sing:

" _Lee Jordan, you are oh so brave,_

 _Loyal, wise, and well behaved,_

 _Around my heart you have drawn a cordon,_

 _Wonderful, beautiful, amazing Lee Jordan."_

The dwarf then reach into the brown satchel slung over his shoulder and grabbed a handful of confetti and threw it in the air above Lee's head before stomping back out of the room. Lee stood in stunned silence for a few moments before looking around the room at all the people staring at him with their mouths wide open. His gaze settled on Fred and George who were doing their best to try to not laugh out loud.

"Oh, you complete gits," said Lee, launching himself at the pair.

"Don't blame me," complained Fred, hiding behind his brother as Lee tried to slap the pair of them.

"It was your idea," said George, holding his hands over his head.

"Yeah, but you came up with that song," said Fred.

"That's quite enough Mr Jordan," said Professor Flitwick, finally having regained his ability to talk. He waved his wand towards to door to lock it magically and prevent any further disruptions.

"Did you not just see what they did?" complained Lee. He suddenly realised he was talking to a teacher and added; "sir."

"Yes I did Mr Jordan," said Flitwick. "And while I understand your desire for retribution, as a teacher I cannot stand by and do nothing if I witness any violent reprisals that you may wish to visit upon your friends, however justified they may be. On the other hand it has been a while since I have enjoyed gazing out of this window at the lovely view across the lake."

Flitwick waved his wand and a stack of nearby books floated across the room and formed into a rudimentary staircase that allowed him to climb up and look out of the window. He stood patiently with his arms resting behind his back. There were two loud thumps.

"That should do it," Flitwick said to the room at large and turned back around. Fred and George were wincing and trying to rub some life back into their shoulders whilst Lee massaged the knuckles of one hand with his other. "Shall we get back to the lesson?"

"I don't know why you hit me," complained George. "As I said, it was all Fred's idea."

"I didn't come up with 'around my heart you have drawn a cordon'," said Fred. "You deserve a punch for that alone."

"You try and come up with something that rhymes with Jordan," countered George.

In fact Fred managed to come up with two phrases that rhymed with Jordan, 'warden' and 'boredom', which he used to get the dwarfs to interrupt Herbology and History of Magic and embarrass Lee further. Not one to take things lying down, Lee fired back by sending Fred and George two singing dwarfs each during lunch and also History of Magic. The latter arrived at the same time as Lee's singing dwarf which resulted in all three dwarfs trying their best to warble their message louder than the others whilst Professor Binns continue his lecture on the attempted implementation of Rappaport's Law in England during the late 1800's without paying a bit of notice to the new arrivals.

By the afternoon all the teachers were sick of the interruptions to their lessons, with the exceptions of Binns (who didn't notice) and Lockhart (who generally joined in), and took to locking their doors once the classroom had been filled. This led to the dwarfs lying in wait in the corridors to ambush the students when they least expected.

One poor recipient was Harry who had tried to escape through a crowd of students but was eventually chased down and tackled to the floor by one rather eager dwarf. The messenger proceeded to sing his song in full view of a whole pack of students that included a large number of first years and, even worse, Draco Malfoy and his two followers Crabbe and Goyle. Fred suspected that it might have been Ginny that had sent the message as the girl had done bright red the moment the words had been sung.

After dinner the Common Room was relatively subdued, at least it was after Harry retreated to his dormitory since Fred and George kept loudly singing the same song that the dwarf had sung to him in the corridor. Most people were sat around trying to finish their homework, reading to themselves, or chatting quietly in small groups.

"Fred?" said a voice as the boy came back to the Common Room after visiting the toilet.

"Oh hi Alicia," said Fred. "If you're looking to borrow my Transfiguration homework I haven't done it yet. Same goes for Potions… and Charms… also Herbology. I did start my History of Magic but turns out I wrote down the wrong page and did completely the wrong topic. Also haven't started Muggle Studies."

"Oh, it wasn't about that… wait, weren't most of those due yesterday and today?" said Alicia, frowning.

"Yep," nodded Fred. "Well, Snape's is due tomorrow. But I figured the others would be too busy marking homework from the rest of our year. I didn't want to add to their load."

"You're so considerate," said Alicia, flatly.

"I know, right? And they still threaten me with detention," said Fred, shaking his head.

"Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks," said Alicia. "It was unexpected, but it was nice."

"Oh well, don't mention it," said Fred, nodding. There were a few seconds of silence before he continued. "But if you _were_ to mention it, what would you be mentioning?"

"You know… the poem," said Alicia, blushing slightly.

"Ah yes… the poem," said Fred. "And what poem would that be?"

"Merlin's Beard, you can be annoying…" said Alicia. She looked around the room, moved closer, and lowered her voice. "The love poem."

"Okay," said Fred, slowly. "I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Unless you mean the song George and I kept singing at Harry, cos we didn't write that one. I suspect it might have been Ginny though, she has a mad crush on him."

"No, I meant the one about me," said Alicia. "You said I had eyes like 'coffee swirls' and skin like 'caramel' and lips that… oh my god. You didn't send it at all, did you?"

"What? No, of course I didn't," stammered Fred, as the girl started to repeatedly punched him on the arm. "Why are you hitting me?"

"Because… because…" faltered Alicia as she bashed him with each word. She stopped and pointed a finger at him. "You're such an idiot."

"What did I do?" complained Fred, as Alicia stormed away from him.

"Apparently nothing," snapped Alicia, as she disappeared up the stairs to her dormitory.

"What was that about?" asked Lee, who like the rest of the room had been staring at the altercation.

"I have absolutely no idea," said Fred, sitting down with a slightly stunned expression on his face. "She was going on about some poem, and coffee swirl eyes or something."

"Oh yeah, I saw one of Lockhart's dwarfs singing to her earlier on in the corridor after dinner," said George. "Wait, does she think that you sent it? You didn't, did you?"

"No, pretty sure it was Rupert Cahir from Hufflepuff, he's always had a thing for her," said Lee. "Plus he was in the corridor when they sang it and looked rather pleased with her reaction."

"So she was pleased that she got the song but for some reason her first thought was that Fred sent it," said George. He turned to look at his brother as a wide grin slowly formed on his face. "Something to tell us Fred?"

"What? No, of course not," said Fred, frowning.

"Come on, you can tell us," said Lee, hitting Fred's shoulder with his own. "How long has it been going on?"

"Nothing is going on," replied Fred.

"Yeah right," scoffed Lee. "Why else would she think you had sent that song? Hang on, here's a thought. You should probably say something to Rupert. Tell him to back off. He shouldn't be sending love poems to your girl."

"She's not my…" complained Fred, standing up. "You need to shut your cake holes."

"That's it, that's what you tell Rupert," said George, snapping his fingers.

"I give up," snapped Fred, heading up to bed.

"Oh to be young and in love," said George, shaking his head.

"Aren't you the exact same age as him?"

"You say potato, I say potato," replied George.

"Po-tart-o."

"What?"

"The saying is 'you say potato, I say po- _tart_ -o'. Otherwise you're just saying the word potato twice."

"Isn't that what you're doing as well?"

"Well yes, but you're supposed to pronounce it differently the second time."

"But no one pronounces it 'po-tart-to', it makes no sense."

"It's an old muggle song," explained Lee.

"About potatoes?"

"Well, yes," said Lee, sounding uncertain. "And tomatoes."

"Muggles are so weird," said George, shaking his head. "The important thing however is that I have something to tease Fred about."

"What? That one of the best looking girls in our year probably likes him?" asked Lee. "How could that possibly be something you could tease him about?"

"Po-tart-o, tomato, Lee. Po-tart-o, tomato."

"You're not using that the right way," advised Lee.

"To-may-to, potato, potato, to-may-to?"

"Just stop," said Lee. "I'm going to bed."

George quietly watched as Lee headed upstairs, before looking around the room at the remaining occupants. He patted his stomach and looked thoughtful for a few moments.

"I'm hungry. I wonder if the kitchen has potatoes."

* * *

Lexington and Miro did their best to try and track Wentworth after his escape from the hospital but even with the help of Bellingsbee, who had a surprisingly large number of contacts amongst the less desirable members of the wizarding community in New York, they were finding the going tough with numerous dead-ends and leads that turned out to be nothing but rumour. They were close to giving up and returning to England when Bellingsbee reached out to Lexington and arranged to meet with them. The location the custodian had chosen turned out to be a dark and dingy bar down a non-descript side-street that Miro wouldn't have given a second look if they hadn't been following the man's directions.

The windows to the bar were tinted and it was impossible to see anything from the outside. Pushing the door back they were greeted with a musty smell of alcohol and sweat.

"Members only," snapped a burly man sat just on the inside of the door. The pair had been warned by Bellingsbee to expect this and quickly showed their wands. The man grunted his approval and nodded for them to go inside. "No trouble."

Inside the bar was dimly lit and the low slung ceiling made it feel darker still. Miro followed Lexington through the main bar to a booth at the back where Bellingsbee was waiting for them. The booth provided them with privacy but the older man still leaned forward and kept his voice low.

"Sorry about the meeting place," said Bellingsbee, looking around to make sure there was no one nearby. "Couldn't really meet at the hospital, it seems that your little investigation is starting to get the attention of the MACUSA. A few days ago I had some Aurors come knocking to ask questions, they seemed pretty interested to know if I'd bumped into any Brits in the last few weeks."

"Why would they care what we're up to?" snorted Lexington.

"Well from what I understand you might have been getting a bit too forceful with some of your questioning," said Bellingsbee, settling back into his chair.

"That last goblin knew something I tell you," said Lexington.

"Either way you can't go throwing your weight around like that, especially not with goblins. They have a large amount of political pull within the MACUSA and aren't afraid to use it if one of their own are threatened."

"I didn't threaten him," complained Lexington.

"You said you'd curse his ears off," Miro reminded him.

"Ahh they were too big anyway," said Lexington dismissively.

"Anyway, I think the Aurors suspect I might be helping you," advised Bellingsbee. "The list of people who you'd reach out to for help in New York is slim. Pretty sure I've been put under surveillance, I spotted an Auror waiting outside the hospital when I had to run some errands this morning and I saw the same Auror again two hours later over the far side of the city. Can't be a coincidence."

"That explains why you wanted to meet here," said Lexington looking around the bar. "It's not exactly the finest of establishments."

"Exactly, no one from MACUSA would be welcome in here and Tiny over there…" Bellingsbee nodded to the man sat at the front door, "is very good at spotting them. Even ex-Aurors aren't allowed, I'm only given a pass because I helped his mother jump the queue a bit for treatment at Grönings."

"So I take it you have some news which you didn't want to send by owl?"

"Yeah, there have been whispers coming out of the Egyptian community," said Bellingsbee.

"Makes sense. Sect of Kai was from Egypt originally and the book that Formby got hold of was smuggled out of there too," said Lexington, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Well whatever's going on has them riled up. The goblins too."

"Why the goblins?"

"Your man Formby worked for Gringotts. That's goblin owned. The fact that an employee of theirs was killed after smuggling a Kai artifact out of Egypt does not look good for them. If word got out then it might result in Ministries around the world taking a much keener interest in how they do business, and the last thing Gringotts wants is interference," said Bellingsbee. "So watch your backs, because the easiest way from them to cover this whole thing up would be to get hold of that book you have and I doubt they'll ask nicely for it."

"Great, so we just have to worry about the Sect of Kai, MACUSA, and now Gringotts," sighed Miro.

"Don't forget the Egyptian Ministry as well," said Bellingsbee, holding up a finger. "They made a whole song and dance about having caught all remaining members of the Sect of Kai a few years back, so it wouldn't be good for their reputation if news of even one surviving member surfaces."

"So what were the whispers?"

"Apparently a number of Egyptian Aurors have been arriving in New York over the last few weeks, and none of their travel has been officially registered with MACUSA. They've all come in using muggle transport," Bellingsbee pulled out a map of the city from his pocket and fanned it out onto the table. He pointed to a large circle he had drawn on the map. "They've been spotted all around here…"

"Like they're looking for something… or someone," said Lexington.

"Exactly," said Bellingsbee. "They might have a way to track Wentworth, or at least his general location."

"What's the plan?"

"I have eyes on most of the Egyptians," said Bellingsbee. He took out an old battered notepad that was filled with scribbled sentences, turned it to the first blank page, and wedged it open on the table. "They seemed to be gearing up for something today. If it happens, someone will send me a message with the location. We get there and grab Wentworth first and escape. Hopefully before anyone realises we're there. Oh and we'll need theses."

The man reached down into a bag under the table and brought out three sets of copper coloured handcuffs.

"Can't we just freeze him?" asked Miro.

"Probably, but that man was able to Apparate without a wand," said Bellingsbee. "Not many could do it successfully which either makes him lucky or powerful. Either way slap one of these around his wrists and it'll prevent him from doing any magic."

"Right," said Miro, taking one of the pairs of handcuffs and sticking them in his pocket.

While they waited the trio chatted away or, more accurately, the two older men chatted about old times while Miro listened intently to their stories. It was about an hour or so before Bellingsbee leaned forward and looked at his notepad. Miro looked down and could see words forming on the page.

"Looks like we have a location," said Bellingsbee reading the words as they appeared. He looked up at Miro and waved a hand at the notepad. "Old Auror trick, I duplicated the notepad, enchanted the pages, and gave a copy to someone watching the Egyptians. Now when he writes on his notepad, it appears on this one, and vice-versa. Surprised you don't use it."

"They tried at the Ministry but we could never get it to work consistently, words got jumbled, changed entirely or just burst into flame. I think it has something to do with the paper over here," said Lexington.

"Well, I know this place," said Bellingsbee, pointing at the words. He put away the notepad and held his arm out. "You guys grab hold and I'll Apparate us there."

Miro and Lexington did as they were told and held onto the man's arm tightly. They felt the air squeeze around them and everything temporarily go black. Miro hated Apparating and closed his eyes for the duration only opening them again when he felt his feet back on solid ground. Opening his eyes he realised they were standing in a long but narrow alleyway with buildings all around.

"That's the building there," said Bellingsbee, nodding over the other side of the street. "It's an old theatre, that's one of the side doors. I'd say that'll be our way inside. Here's my man now."

Miro looked up to see a small figure rushing towards them. It was impossible to see its features as it had an oversized hood pulled up over its head. As soon as it reached them Bellingsbee leaned down and the individual whispered for a few minutes into his ear before scurrying away down the alleyway.

"I thought you said we had to watch out for goblins," said Lexington, nodding at the retreating figure.

"In general yes, but that one was fired from Gringotts years ago and has held a grudge ever since so I'm pretty sure we're safe in that regard," explained Bellingsbee. "He said the Egyptians entered the building about five minutes ago and from the look of it they are searching top to bottom. They've stationed guards at all the other entrances ways; they only missed this one because our goblin friend got here first and temporarily masked it while they were quickly checking the outside. If we sneak in now we'll just have about time to search the basement before they reach it. It's not much but it's better than nothing. Also, we have to be quick because if we run into any of them we'll probably have to fight our way out. The first thing they did when they arrived was put an Anti-Apparition Charm on the building."

"Just perfect," said Miro flatly.

"We had better be quick then," said Lexington. He took out his wand with one hand and held the set of handcuffs in the other, Bellingsbee and Miro did the same.

The three approached the door and, after carefully checking the coast was clear, quickly headed inside. There was a nearby stairwell and they could hear movement from the upper levels. Moving as fast as they dared whilst trying to remain quiet they made their way down towards the basement. There were a series of small rooms, each one filled with old props and partial production sets all covered in a thin layer of dust and cobwebs.

Eventually they found a room at the end of long corridor. Through the keyhole and the small gap at the bottom of the door they could see that a light was on inside the room, and by the occasional flickering they knew that someone was inside and pacing around. Miro leaned against the wall next to the door and placed his hand on the handle. Lexington nodded and he twisted the handle as Lexington barged into the room wand raised.

"Ah ah, easy now," ordered Lexington pointing his wand at Wentworth. Miro and Bellingsbee filtered into the room and checked there was no one else inside.

The room was larger than the others they had been in but basically looked the same with several clothes railings pushed against the walls each filled with different costumes.

"You're damn persistent, you know that?" said Wentworth, holding a sharp slightly curved dagger. Lexington quickly disarmed him with a spell, catching the blade as it spun out of the man's hand.

Instead of answering Lexington quickly performed a freezing spell on the man and caught him before his stiff body fell to the floor. He lowered Wentworth down onto his front, performed the counter curse, and before he could make any moves Lexington snapped the handcuffs around the man's wrists and pulled him back up.

"Surprised you didn't make it further," said Lexington, holding onto the man's arm.

"Without my wand it made it difficult. Ended up splicing myself when I Apparated," he turned his right leg slightly to show them a dried patch of blood around the calf. "Couldn't risk another wizard hospital and didn't have any muggle money to try one of theirs, so I just did the best I could."

"How very resourceful of you," said Lexington, guiding the man out into the corridor.

"I don't suppose one of you kind fellows would be interested in patching me up."

"We'll consider it once we get you somewhere secure and only if you start talking," advised Lexington.

"Secure?" said Wentworth frowning. "This building is pretty secure, especially since you put that Anti-Apparition Charm on it… unless that wasn't you? It wasn't, was it?"

"Shut up and move. And keep your voice down," said Lexington, pushing the man who then dug his heels in and flopped against the wall.

"Maybe I'd be better going with whoever is up there?" said Wentworth, raising his voice.

"It's the Egyptian Ministry," explained Miro. "You rather deal with them?"

"Seeing as they want me dead, I'd say no."

"Exactly," nodded Miro. He pointed his wand down the corridor. "Now move."

Lexington led the way while Miro held onto Wentworth's arm with one hand while keeping the wand aimed at their prisoner with the other and Bellingsbee brought up the rear. They had almost made it to the stairwell when Lexington held up a hand to stop them before quickly ushering them into a nearby room. Inside were a large number of cardboard paintings that depicted various different landscapes and backdrops.

"Someone was coming, well, probably more than one," explained Lexington, looking around the room. He pointed to a stack of the largest cardboard canvases that were propped against the far wall. "Quickly, we'll hide behind these and hope they don't look too hard."

They had only just managed to get into position as the door was forced open. Miro held his breath as he heard the footsteps of several people entering the room followed by a few harsh words in a language that he recognised as Egyptian from a Hogwarts school trip a couple of years previously. He could see the light from someone's wand skirt around the room as they gave it a cursory look. Miro almost forgot himself and went to let out a relieved sigh when they began leaving the room but he caught himself in time.

"Wait," said a voice, just before the searchers left.

There was a pause that could have only lastly less than ten seconds but felt to Miro like an eternity. Suddenly, he felt the cardboard leaning over his head being pulled forward revealing their hiding place.

"Careful now, we didn't come here to fight," warned Lexington, raising his wand as Bellingsbee and Miro did likewise.

"Really? Surely that's half the fun," said the owner of the voice, whose face Miro instantly recognised.

"Enoch?" said Miro, lowering his wand.

"The very same," said Enoch, smiling a broad grin. "Howya been lads?"


	14. Chapter 14

The following day Fred and George headed down to the Quidditch pitch for their early morning practice which Oliver still insisted upon, despite the fact that their next opponents were Hufflepuff who were without doubt the easiest team that Gryffindor could play. It was widely agreed that they didn't have a single team member who would be able to make it onto any of the other teams.

"Why are you even worried about them?" Fred asked Oliver as they made their way down to the Quidditch pitch with George carrying the equipment between the three of them. "The only player they have that is half decent is their Seeker and it's his last year this year.

"Yeah, you've said it yourself before; you can't build a team around a Seeker no matter how good they are," said George.

"I'm surprised you listened," said Oliver. "My point is that why you shouldn't build a team around a Seeker, it's still possible to win if you relinquish all ideas of attack and just defend your goal while waiting for the Seeker to grab the Snitch."

"Are you saying Shannon's better than Harry?" said Fred.

"No, I'm saying we shouldn't get cocky and expect Harry to out play… why are you giggling?" said Oliver as Fred and George grinned at each other.

"It's cos you said…you know what? Doesn't matter," said George, dismissively before carrying on. "Harry _is_ better than Shannon, he managed to catch the last Snitch with a Bludger trying to kill him and he was up against a Nimbus-Two-Thousand-and-One. Shannon's broom is slower than Harry's for Godricsake. There's no way we can lose."

"I like your enthusiasm but we shouldn't count our dragons before they hatch," advised Oliver as they eventually arrived down at the pitch. They placed the equipment box down onto the grass and looked around. "Where is everybody?"

"Took your time," shouted a voice from above. The three boys looked up to see Angelina and Katie hovering about ten feet above them.

"What about Harry and Alicia?" said Oliver, looking around. He saw Harry sat down on one of the benches. The Seeker was reading from a book and looked up when he heard his name. "Oh, spotted Harry anyway."

"Alicia's not feeling well," said Angelina, landing her broom next to her Captain. She cast a quick look over at Fred as she said this.

"Must be something serious for her to miss practice," said Oliver, sounding alarmed. "She's not contagious is she?"

"No, of course not, but I'll pass on your concern," said Angelina.

"You do that," said Oliver, who Angelina had forgotten tended to not notice when someone was being sarcastic. "I think we'll mainly work on shooting practice today. Something tells me Hufflepuff are going to go defensive and hopefully rely on their Seeker being able to muscle Harry out of the way. So with that in mind Katie and Angelina will be with me down at the goals with the Quaffle. As for you three, I want you to try and catch the Snitch, but it's Fred and George versus Harry."

"That's a bit unfair isn't it?" said Katie.

"If Harry can still catch the Snitch against these two," said Oliver, gesturing at the twins, "then Hufflepuff have no chance against him."

"I actually meant it's unfair on Fred and George. Harry will beat them without breaking a sweat," said Katie, grinning.

"Oh it's like that is it?" said George defensively. "Careful or we won't invite you to our birthday."

"You're having a birthday party?" asked Harry. Although a number of students had birthdays during the school year most of them only had a cursory celebration with their close friends. No one actually threw a party.

"Oh no," said Fred, throwing an arm over the boy's shoulder, "we don't do parties. We have a whole day of fun and exciting events…"

"They spend the day playing stupid pranks on each other until one or both of them get thrown in detention," explained Angelina. "It's a huge pain in the backside, which is a possible side-effect of one of their pranks if you are unlucky enough to get accidentally caught in it."

"Everyone loves our annual birthday prank war," said George.

"No, we don't," said Katie. "Why do you think the Common Room is always empty on your birthday? Most people hide in the library where it's safe."

"Really? Huh… you think someone would have said something," said Fred, shaking his head.

"We have," replied Angelina. "Every year."

"Oh…" said George crestfallen. He looked over at his brother. "Maybe we should skip it this year?"

"Might be for the best," admitted Fred, nodding in agreement.

"Well, come on," said George, mounting his broom and taking off, "best get a few warm up laps done."

"Good thinking guys," said Fred as he watched his brother take to the air. "Lull him into a false sense of security and then… blamo… I prank him so hard on his birthday, our ancestors will feel it."

"No… that's not…" stammered Angelina as Fred climbed on his broom and flew upwards.

"I always knew you were Team Fred," he called down. "Don't worry, we'll get him good."

"Remind me to join you guys in the library on their birthday," said Harry as he watched the twins speeding around the pitch.

"Percy usually puts up a notice on the board in the Common Room," commented Katie.

The team split into their two groups and spent the next hour of so going through practice. At the start Fred and George found it easy to muscle Harry away from the Snitch and caught the flying golden ball a few times without the younger boy even getting close. However by the end Harry's superior broom and natural flair for the Seeker position meant that he was able to dodge around both of the twins and still catch the Snitch without too much trouble.

"Bravo, well done," shouted Oliver who was watching as Harry caught the Snitch one last time. The second year had spiralled his broom around Fred and managed to flick out a foot at the last minute to kick the passing Snitch into his path for an easy catch, all while George was looking the wrong way.

"He's too quick," said George, landing on the ground.

"That's a good thing," said Fred, dropping down next to his brother.

"I know that," replied George. "But it would have been nice if we even came close to grabbing the Snitch."

"You lot head up back up to the school," said Oliver, pointing towards the Castle. "Just need a word with Harry here."

"Wonder what that's about," said George, as he and Fred lifted an end each of the equipment trunk.

"Probably some extra Seeker practice that he wants Harry to do," replied Fred. He looked at the girls. "How was your shooting practice?"

"Not bad," said Katie. "Scored a few, which isn't easy against Oliver."

"What's up with Alicia?" asked George.

"Why don't you ask him?" said Angelina, not looking back but thumbing towards Fred over her shoulder.

"Fred, what's up with Alicia?"

"How would…" began Fred before realising he could just ignore his brother. He addressed his question to Angelina. "Why would I know?"

"She's upset with you," explained Katie, after Angelina neglected to answer.

"What did I do?" said Fred. "Is this about that thing that Cahir did?"

"Rupert Cahir? Your year, but Hufflepuff, right?" asked Katie.

"Yeah, he sent her one of those singing dwarfs but for some reason that made her annoyed at _me_ ," explained Fred.

"You honestly have no idea why she would be a bit embarrassed to be around you at the moment?" said Angelina, stopping in her tracks and turning to face the boys.

"Nope," said Fred, shrugging his shoulders. "She thought I had sent her a poem, but I didn't… why would that be embarrassing?"

"You really are clueless aren't you?" said Angelina, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Yes?" ventured Fred, drawing out the word. He switched his gaze between the girls to see if one of them would confirm if his answer was correct.

"Merlin's Beard," exclaimed Angelina, throwing her hands up into the air. "She likes, you okay? As in like-likes you. And she's annoyed at you because you didn't send her a singing dwarf, but she thought you did and it made her really happy, until she asked you about it and you said no, and then she was embarrassed because she thought you'd work out she liked you while you didn't like her, but you didn't because you're as clueless as a blind Flubberbird. What?"

This last comment had been directed at Katie who had been trying to shush her friend.

"Maybe take a breath, okay?" advised Katie.

"Wait? Alicia likes me?" said Fred, pointing to himself.

"Clueless," snapped Angelina in frustration before storming away. Katie just shook her head before following after her friend.

"Fred Weasley… ladies' man," said George grinning.

"What do I do?"

* * *

"I tell you what you should do," said Lee, rubbing his chin thoughtfully for a few moments. "Take his knight, sure you'll lose your bishop but it'll give you a straight line to go and take out his rook."

"Well it did until you went and blurted it out," said George, watching the Wizard Chess board intently. He'd been playing his brother Ron for the last hour or so. They had played several games and he'd lost them all.

"Can I just go to bed?" said Ron, yawning while he stretched his arms over his head.

"Not until I win," replied George.

"So you're saying I have to stay up for the rest of my life?" said Ron. He rubbed his eyes with his balled up fists.

"No, I'm saying it's your bedtime because I have you now," said George, beaming. He tapped his queen on her head and pointed to where he wanted her to go. The chess piece followed orders, walked across the board, and smashed one of Ron's bishops to bits.

"Brilliant," said Ron nonchalantly. He lazily pointed at one of his knights and waved it forward. "Checkmate."

"It's not… what?" said George, frowning. "You can't…"

"You can clean these up," said Ron, gesturing towards the board as he stood. "I'm going to bed."

"Best two out of three," said George.

"It was 'two out of three' seven games ago," replied Ron. "Goodnight."

"Ha! So, you forfeit?" said George. "That means I win, right?"

"Whatever," muttered Ron, disappearing up the stairs.

"You heard him," said George, pointing at Lee. "I won."

"You must be so proud," commented Lee as he set the pieces back onto the board.

"Winners don't have time for pride," replied George.

There was a creak as the Fat Lady portrait swung open and Fred strode into the Common Room.

"Where have you been?" said George, looking up. "And what the hell are you wearing?"

"Dress-robes," said Fred, gazing down at his clothes. He was wearing similar clothes to his usual school uniform except these were a dark shade of blue, seemed much more formal and came with a matching blue bowtie.

"Why?" said Lee. He tried to think of something else to add but just went back to his first question. "I mean… why?"

"You know that painting of Lothario the Bawdy?" said Fred.

"Yeah. Outside Flitwick's office?"

"That's the one," nodded Fred. "Anyway, apparently Lothario gives the best advice when it comes to girls."

"Says who?" scoffed Lee.

"Says him."

"And he advised that you dress up like that did he?" said George, pointing at his brother's clothes.

"He said I should make an effort."

"Where did you even find it?" asked Lee.

"Oh, I got the House Elves to adjust a school uniform for me. They dyed it and sowed it all up for me. They're great at alterations."

"You got them to dye your uniform blue?" said George.

"Of course not," replied Fred, brushing some fluff away from his shoulder. "I got them to dye yours."

"But mine is in our room," said George.

"Nope, I took them off the floor earlier."

"But I didn't leave mine on the floor, mine are in the wardrobe," explained George.

"No. I picked them up from the ground. They were just left of the floor."

"I think I know where I put my own uniform, Fred."

"No, no, no," said Lee quickly. He stood up and rushed over to Fred and started pulling at the back of his collar.

"What are you doing?" complained Fred, trying to twist out of the way.

"I'm looking… there… my name tag. Perfect. You idiot, you dyed my clothes," snapped Lee.

"I thought they felt a bit snug," said Fred, pulling his collar back into position.

"What am I going to wear tomorrow?

"Relax, I only need this for tonight, I'll bring it straight back down to the House Elves and they can change it back no problem," advised Fred. "It'll be good as new."

"It better be," said Lee, in a warning tone. He pointed towards Fred's hand. "And what's that?"

"Oh it's a flower," said Fred, holding his hand out which contained a single stemmed yellow coloured flower.

"Why?"

"Because Lothario said I should bring a flower."

"Bring a flower to what?" said George.

"I was going to ask Alicia out," said Fred, trying his best not to blush.

"Aha! I knew it," said Lee, slapping his friend on the back. "I said you liked her."

"Wait? Are you going to ask her out _now_?" said George. He waved at the room which was empty except for the three boys. "You know she's gone to bed right? What are you going to do? Knock on her door and ask whoever answers to go get Alicia?"

"Pretty much. I didn't really think that far ahead," admitted Fred. "I just kind of got caught up with the painting egging me on. He just said go with a big gesture, and bring flowers."

"Well don't let us keep you," said George, waving a hand in the direction of the staircase which led to the girls' dormitories. "Good luck. You've got this."

"Yeah good luck," added Lee, as Fred took one last deep breath and headed on his mission. Lee turned back to address George. "You seem oddly supportive. I would have expected you to make fun of him for a bit longer."

"Just wait," said George eagerly, as he watched his brother.

"For what?"

"Wait for it," said George, holding up a finger.

Fred had disappeared from view as he went up the stairs. Suddenly there was a loud, wailing, klaxon-like sound and the steps to the girls' dormitories melted together to make a long smooth stone slide like a helter-skelter. As the sound stopped it was replaced by furious swearing as Fred came sliding out into the Common Room on his back.

"What was that?" Fred asked pushing himself back onto his feet.

"Oh yeah, boys aren't allowed up into the girls' dormitories," said George, leaning his arms over the back of his chair as he spoke to his brother. "Did you not know that?"

"Of course not," snapped Fred. "Do you think I would have gone up there if I had known?"

George's thoughts on the matter were interrupted as a number of girls, all dressed in pyjamas and dressing gowns, came sliding down the stairs.

"What's going on?" demanded the first girl down, who the boys recognised as the seventh year prefect. The prefects from the fifth and sixth year were also part of the group that came down the stairs.

"Oh… I… er," stammered Fred, trying his best to think of something to say, but it wasn't easy given the distracting fact that additional girls continued to slide down the stairs.

"For Godricsake I wished they let you all know about the stairs in the first year," complained the girl. She turned to look at the growing audience. She walked over the stairs and shouted upward. "False alarm, everyone back to bed. Same with the rest of you." She turned back to Fred. "So who was it that you wanted to see?"

"Um… er…" said Fred. His eyes locked with Alicia who had come down the stairs with the second group.

"Well?" asked the seventh year impatiently.

"Well…" began Fred, before suddenly spinning around and racing up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

"Anything to do with you two?" said the seventh year, turning to look at George and Lee.

"Nope, that was all Fred," said George, shaking his head.

"Come on, everyone back to bed," said the girl, turning around and trying to herd people up the stairs. "The steps have changed back."

Eventually everyone filtered back up the stairs with Alicia the last to go after stopping to pick something off the ground. She looked as though she was about to say something to George and Lee before she went but seemed to think better of it at the last minute.

"Probably better go and check on 'Loverboy'," said George, sweeping the chess pieces into their box which caused a number of them to grumble as the board was folded away on top of them.

They found Fred in their dormitory, lying face up on the covers of his bed whilst still fully clothed. The other two occupants of the room were fast asleep.

"You alright, Fred?" whispered George cautiously.

"That was embarrassing," replied Fred with a drained expression on his face.

"Could have been worse," said George, keeping his voice low so as not to wake the others.

"How?"

"You could have had your trousers ripped off you by a spell while standing in front of the girl you like the very day you decide not to wear underpants," said George helpfully.

"That sounds familiar," said Fred, frowning. "Why does that sound familiar?"

"Because it happened to me. Last year. And it was your faults," said Lee, annoyed that George had brought it up and that Fred didn't remember.

"Oh yeah, now I remember," said Fred smiling. "Yeah, that's way more embarrassing."

"That's my point," said George. "This unbelievably embarrassing thing happened to Lee and look at him now."

Fred lifted his head up from the bed to look at his friend.

"Okay, I'm looking," said Fred, after a few moments. "Now what?"

"No, I didn't mean actually look at him. I just meant it was embarrassing but he's fine now. Aren't you?"

"Oh, I'm great," deadpanned Lee.

"See?" said George. "All this will be forgotten about tomorrow."

* * *

"So, what are you doing here?" said Lexington as Enoch placed a cup of tea each in front of him and Miro. Bellingsbee had excused himself once everyone had lowered their wands and calmed down while Wentworth had been taken into custody by the Egyptians not before sending a torrent of abuse towards Enoch when he recognised him.

"Hunting that man, of course," replied Enoch. The three men were sitting in a small cramped office in a building the Egyptians had been using as a base of operations.

"Well I know that," replied Lexington, putting three large heaped spoonfuls of sugar into his tea. "I meant, why you specifically."

"Because of this," said Enoch, pushing the sleeve of his robes back to reveal a tattoo in the shape of a beetle which had an eye on its back. "It turns out that having this thing isn't very good. About six months ago I was stopped travelling into Egypt for a routine customs check. Once their authorities saw I had this tattoo they thought I was a member of the Sect of Kai, only way to really convince them that I wasn't was to help them hunt down the rest. Which is pretty much what I've been doing for the last few months."

"That explains why you never replied to my letter," said Lexington.

"Never received it yet," said Enoch, shrugging. "Been mostly on assignment so haven't had a chance to check my post. It's probably on top of a pile of bills at home. What did you need me for anyway?"

"It's linked to… well it started out as a missing person case but it appears the fellow we were looking for was killed by Wentworth," explained Lexington. "You see we found this book that the Sect…"

"Ah ah ah," said Enoch quickly waving the man into silence. He raised his voice much higher than it need to be. "That's very interesting. Good to know you solved that case. Don't worry; I'm sure the Egyptians will add that murder to the list of Wentworth's crimes."

"What?" muttered Miro.

"I'm sure he'll confess; their Aurors are very good at getting answers," said Enoch. He tapped his ear and then pointed around the room to indicate that someone was listening to their conversation.

"That's good to know," replied Lexington as Enoch went over to the desk and scribbled something onto a piece of parchment and handed it to him.

 _Ministry listening. Talk to you back at your office_ – it read. Lexington nodded and balled the page up and stuffed it into his pocket.

"So now that you caught the man, I take it your case is done," said Enoch.

"Yeah, we were only supposed to find out what happened to this man that worked for Gringotts," said Lexington. "Looks like he got mixed up with that Kai lot which ended up getting him killed."

"That's usually the way with them," nodded Enoch. "Wentworth tried to kill me a few times; he's the one that sent that Kosa after me last year, or at least that what he claimed when they were bringing him down to the holding cell."

"So what happens now?" asked Miro.

"They'll question Wentworth, put him on trial, probably try and execute him," said Enoch.

"Only try?"

"Well if he did kill that chap you were looking for then he's killed a British wizard so that means our Ministry will probably want to question him too, that'll at least hold off the sentencing until they are done," reasoned Enoch. "That's if they hold a trial at all."

"Why wouldn't they?" asked Miro.

"Because then there would be an official record that Aurors entered another country to conduct a search and capture mission," said Enoch. "That kind of thing is frowned upon in most countries. Anyway, I'm sure it'll work out in the end. If I were you I'd probably get back to England as soon as possible. MACUSA Aurors have been sniffing around and once we leave that'll narrow down the list of people they can talk to."

"Yes, we should be getting back," said Lexington, standing up. "Can't really leave Reg in charge of the office for too long, can we?"

"I'll drop into you in a few weeks and we can have a proper catch up," said Enoch, guiding the two towards the door.

"I'll look forward to it," said Lexington, shaking the man's hand at the door.

"See you," said Miro.

"Should probably try and get out of here as quick as we can," advised Lexington once they were in the hallway. "I just get the feeling this whole thing isn't over yet."


	15. Chapter 15

George had been wrong. The incident with Fred and the girls' staircase hadn't been forgotten; in fact it had quickly spread through the Gryffindor boys and eventually to the rest of the Houses as well. For over a week at least once a day Fred, and in some cases George as it was difficult to tell them apart, were jokingly warned to hold onto the bannister of the Great Staircase just in case it turned into a slide. On the plus side they were given a week off from Quidditch practice by Oliver who had been on the verge of trying to get them to practice twice a day every day until their next match which was still a month away. The team suspected that McGonagall had had a quiet word with the captain about overdoing things as when the practices started up again they were limited to two evenings a week.

It was the first Quidditch practice they had since the incident with the stairs and there was still awkwardness in the air that everyone noticed, well, almost everyone.

"I think we are going to keep working hard on the shooting and the Seeker training at the moment," said Oliver, who was delighted to be back playing Quidditch after what he considered an unnecessary break. "To begin with Katie and Angelina you'll be with me, and Alicia you'll be playing Seeker against Harry."

"So are Fred and I okay to go grab a snack?" asked George hopefully.

"No, you'll be practicing as Beaters but against Harry," said Oliver. "Basically treat it like an actual match except only use one Bludger. Try your best to keep aiming it at him. Think of Alicia as your Seeker and you're trying to help her."

"I think it might be better for the team if I practiced my shooting," said Alicia cautiously.

"Nonsense, you're our best Chaser," said Oliver confidently.

"Er…" said Katie.

"We're standing right here," said Angelina, with her hands on her hips.

"What? Oh, yes. Yes you are," replied Oliver helpfully. He turned back to Alicia. "Anyway, I've gone over all the numbers, and while you have less actual goals than Angelina and Katie, your shots to goal ratio is almost twice as good as theirs. This means you are getting into a good scoring position before you shoot, and that's what I'm going to work on with Katie and Angelina. Don't worry; I'll swap you out from Seeker practice with the other two after a bit so you'll still get some shooting practice in."

"We're the 'other two' apparently," commented Angelina to Katie.

"Yes exactly," nodded Oliver. "The three 'Ps' of Chasers are power, passing, and precision. You two are the best at the first two so we're just working on the last p."

"The last p is the most important one," said George.

"Oh yes," agreed Fred, nodding enthusiastically. "I always try and work on my p as much as I can, otherwise it can go everywhere."

"Precisely," agreed Oliver, oblivious to the snickers from Fred, George, and Harry.

The teams divided up and Katie, Angelina, and Oliver took the Quaffle towards the closest set of hoops to start practicing. Harry released the Snitch and flew up into the air quickly followed by Alicia, while George handed his brother one of the Beater bats before taking one himself and unleashing a Bludger.

Alicia and Harry swooped around as they quickly glimpsed the Golden Snitch. George aimed the Bludger at Harry as he dived down causing him to have to pull up at the last minute to avoid getting hit. This soon became the pattern as time after time Harry spotted the Snitch first and the twins swiftly sent the Bludger his way to disrupt him. As someone not used to the position of Seeker, Alicia had trouble even finding the Snitch to begin with, and more often than not Harry was already in a full dive before she saw even a shimmer of yellow. She adjusted her tactic so that instead of watching for the Snitch she watched Harry instead, and the moment he went to make a move she followed suit hoping to spot her target as she pulled alongside him.

It proved a much better approach and she nearly caught the Snitch a couple of times but only missed it as the last minute as she pulled out of her dive. Soon she was drifting high in the air above the pitch, keeping only a passing eye out for the Snitch while mainly focussing on Harry.

"Hey Alicia," said Fred, who had flown over to the girl.

"What?" said Alicia, her gaze not wavering from Harry.

"Well, it's just I thought we could talk," said Fred, guardedly.

"Do you really think now is a good time?"

"No, but you've pretty much been avoiding me for the last week," replied Fred.

"I have not," said Alicia, shaking her head.

"After every class you've practically run off to the next one, you're hardly ever in the Common Room anymore, and you check whether or not I am at the table during meals before you come in," said Fred.

"I do not," complained Alicia.

"You did it this morning. I saw you pop your head around the door and when you saw me you didn't come in at all."

"Maybe I just wasn't hungry."

"Your stomach was growling so loudly in Charms I could hear it from the back row," advised Fred.

"You could not," said Alicia, finally turning to look at him. She let out a soft sigh. "Fine, maybe I have been avoiding you."

"Only maybe?" asked Fred wryly.

"Maybe a bit more than maybe," conceded Alicia. "I just didn't know what to say."

"Watch out!" came a shouted warning.

Fred and Alicia turned around just in time to see the Bludger heading towards them. Fred instantly realised the metal ball was too close and too fast for him to deflect it with the bat in time, and instead elected to lean forward on his broom so that he put himself between the Bludger and Alicia. There was a sickening crunch as it slammed into his shoulder and Alicia let out a scream as Fred passed out from the pain and fell from his broom.

She quickly put her own broom into a fall and raced down until she was underneath Fred's tumbling body. As she flew Alicia dragged him onto her broom and tried to pull up out of the dive. Unfortunately with his added weight the best she could do was slow her descent and as the ground quickly rose up to meet them she closed her eyes and hoped for the best.

Alicia's feet hit the ground first and both she and Fred tumbled to the floor rolling to a stop on the grass. She lifted her head up and went to move but winced as she tried to turn one of her ankles.

"Are you okay?" asked Harry, who had landed by her side.

"I'm fine, it's just my ankle. Check on Fred," ordered Alicia. She could see George flying overhead as he grabbed hold of the Bludger. The rest of the team were already heading their way. "How is he?"

"He's awake," reported Harry. "Just groggy."

The group brought the injured pair up to the Infirmary. Katie and Angelina helped steady Alicia between them while George had Fred's undamaged arm over his shoulder as he guided him through the school.

"Honestly," clucked Madam Pomfrey when she saw them, "injuries during a match are one thing but while you are practicing? Just a barbaric game."

"At least Professor Lockhart wasn't around to help this time," said George, lowering his brother onto one of the beds.

"Yes, well medical magic really should be left to the professionals," said Madam Pomfrey before she could stop herself. "Not that I don't hold Professor Lockhart in anything other than the highest esteem. Professor Dumbledore would only ever hire the most talented teachers."

"That are available," muttered George under his breath. If Pomfrey had heard this comment she made no reaction, choosing instead to examine her patients.

"Should be a very easy straight forward fix," said the nurse after a few moments. "You'll be able to go back to your House later tonight but I might keep you overnight anyway for observation seeing how well you are faring."

"What were you thinking?" snapped Angelina, slapping George on the shoulder with the back of her hand. "Hitting that Bludger at them."

"I was thinking 'Fred's a Beater, he'll be concentrating on the Bludger'," replied George, rubbing his arm. "It's not my fault they decided to start having a good old chat during practice."

"We weren't having a chat," retorted Alicia, as Pomfrey went over to a large cabinet filled with vials and potion bottles. "We were… er… discussing tactics."

"Tactics?" asked Angelina.

"Yeah, to beat Harry," said Alicia. "He's very good as a Seeker and I wasn't even getting close, so we were trying to work out a tactic to win."

"And did you?" asked Oliver after a moment which caused some sounds of disapproval from some of the team. "What? It's important."

"What's important," said Fred, who had taken a mouthful of some strange purple liquid that Pomfrey had given him, "is that Alicia probably saved me from being seriously injured or worse."

"Well you know, I couldn't let you just fall," said Alicia.

"You did the right thing Alicia," said Oliver supportively. He gazed around at the rest of the team who were now all looking at him intently. "What? She did."

"Oh… we were expecting you to add something like 'you did the right thing Alicia because there isn't enough time to train a new Beater before the Hufflepuff match'," said Angelina.

"What? Don't be silly," said Oliver letting out a laugh.

"Wait for it," said George quietly.

"There's plenty of time to train a new Beater," said Oliver. He frowned for a moment and turned to Pomfrey. "He'll still be able to play won't he? It won't affect his game."

"There we go, that's the Oliver we know and love," said George.

"Everybody out," ordered Pomfrey, "let me get them back on their feet first before you even start thinking about making them play that ghastly game."

Pomfrey ushered the other members of the team out of the doors before returning to her new patients. She put Alicia in the bed next to Fred before bringing them both different potions which she made them drink and two identical bandages which she wrapped around Fred's shoulder and Alicia's ankle.

It didn't take long for the combination of the two different potions that Fred had taken and the bandage wrapped around his shoulder, which he suspected had magical medicinal properties, to begin to soothe his pain and he soon became acutely aware that he was lying topless in the bed next to Alicia.

"So…" said Fred as he tried to surreptitiously pull the thin cotton blanket over his body, "thanks for saving me."

"Of course I was going to save you," replied Alicia. "You're on my team. We look out for each other, it's what we do."

"I know but still you could have got hurt, well you did get hurt, I mean you could have got seriously hurt," said Fred.

"Ah, if I was afraid of getting hurt I wouldn't be playing Quidditch," replied Alicia.

"So you know how the half term is coming up?" asked Fred trying to sound casual.

"Yeah."

"Do you want to go to Hogsmeade on one of the days?"

"I think our year is lined up for the Thursday aren't we?" said Alicia. "It's all Angelina's been talking about to be honest."

"How about we go to Madam Puddifoot's?"

"We could," nodded Alicia in agreement, "but Angelina only really likes her mincepies, she thinks the cakes tend to be a bit too sweet for her."

"How about just me and you then?"

"I suppose we could. There's this cake she makes around Easter which is apparently amazing but every time I've gone down it's been sold out," said Alicia.

"How about you get what I'm going on about, and you and me go on a date to Madam Puddifoot's?" tried Fred one last time.

"Oh… er… okay," said Alicia, momentarily caught off-guard.

"Right, good," said Fred, lying his head down onto the bed. There was an awkward silence.

"So the other week… you know… with the whole staircase thing…"

"Yeah, I was sort of planning to ask you out then," admitted Fred. "Before it turned into a slide of course."

"Probably best you didn't," reasoned Alicia. "Angelina is closest to the door so she would have answered it, and it would have been a pretty weird you asking me out in front of her and the other girls in the room. The flower was a nice touch though."

"The flower? How did you know about that? I dropped it when I fell down the slide."

"Oh, I picked it up off the bottom of the stairs," explained Alicia. "Yellow's my favourite colour."

"I know," replied Fred.

They lapsed into silence once again.

"Who convinced you to dress up like that though?" laughed Alicia. "Was it George? Because you really shouldn't listen to him for fashion advice."

"You do know me and George have exactly the same clothes? No, it was Lothario the Bawdy that said I should make an effort."

"Lothario the Bawdy? That annoying painting down near Flitwick's that's always really rude to people? I guess I should be grateful that you only put on weird clothing."

"To be fair he wanted me to sing you a song… in the Great Hall… at dinnertime," said Fred.

"I take it back. I would have paid to see that," admitted Alicia.

Madam Pomfrey kept the pair in for observation for a few hours to check they had no adverse effects to the potions she had administered before sending them back to Gryffindor House. Fred had asked for a note from the nurse to state that he probably wouldn't be able to do any homework for the next few days and if it had been anyone else, with the exception of perhaps George, then she would have gladly handed over the slip without a second thought. However since it _was_ Fred she asked a couple of questions which he answered without thinking and she was able to work out quite quickly that he was right-handed and since he had injured his left shoulder he shouldn't have any issues with completing homework.

"Thought you were staying overnight," commented Lee as they made their way into the Common Room. It was late in the evening and most people had already headed up to bed. There were a few stragglers chatting amongst themselves and enjoying the warm glow of the fire.

"What can I say? I heal quicker than the average wizard," replied Fred.

"See you later," said Alicia.

"Yeah, bye," replied Fred.

"What are you smirking about?" asked George as his brother watched the girl head up to her dormitory.

"I have a date," said Fred, flopping himself down into an empty chair.

"Do you mean detention? Because you were in the Hospital Wing, how did you end up in detention from being in the Hospital Wing?" asked George, frowning.

"No I don't mean detention. I mean a date as in a date," said Fred, wriggling his eyebrows.

"Wait…with…" said Lee, pointing towards the staircase to the girls' dormitories. Fred nodded, and grinned. "You asked her out when you were in the Infirmary? Nice one, Fred."

"Thanks, it was all part of the plan," said Fred. He went to lean back in the chair and clasp his hands behind his head but a sharp pain in his shoulder reminded him not to try overdoing things.

"It was all part of your plan? To get yourself injured?" said George sceptically.

"I didn't say it was a great plan," replied Fred.

"And at least this time you weren't dressed like an idiot," added George. "So where are you going on your date?"

"Madam Puddifoot's. During the Easter holidays," said Fred.

"Very cosy, maybe I should ask out Angelina and we can make it a double-date," said Lee thoughtfully.

"Little tip if you do ask her; don't bother with the fancy dress robes," advised Fred.

"I think I could work that one out for myself," said Lee.

"Speaking of working things out," said George pulling an envelope from his pocket, "we got a letter from Miro. They apparently solved our case."

"Seriously?" said Fred, taking the letter and quickly skimming through it. "Er… Ardmore Wentworth? Who the hell is that?"

"He was the guy that attacked us and Enoch in Hogsmeade," said George. "Well, one of them."

"Oh yeah, the Sect of Kai guy. He sent the assassin? I knew I never liked him," said Fred, continuing to read. "Hey, he saw Enoch. He say's hi."

"I know, I read the letter before you, remember?" said George. He pulled out a piece of parchment from his pocket. "Anyway, I wrote them a letter back. Don't know if you want to add anything to it."

"What did you say?"

"I said 'I wrote them a letter back…'

"In the letter. What did you say _in the letter_?" reiterated Fred.

"I just let them know that the attacks on students had stopped, and there were no further messages about the Heir. Basically everything is back to normal. Or at least it will be when everyone is unpetrified."

"You got a quill?" asked Fred, holding his hand out. George offered him one along with some ink and the started to scribble on the bottom of the page.

"What are you saying?" said George leaning forward to read the message. "You're telling Miro you have a date?"

"Of course I'm telling him. One of the best looking girls in our school is going on a date with me," explained Fred. "I'm telling everyone."

* * *

"Nice digs," said Enoch, looking around the office. He pointed a thumb towards the door. "The ghost receptionist is a good touch."

"Oh Reg? He came with the building," said Miro. "He's always around so it means we can head out and not worry about missing any messages. Plus at night it's like having our own guard dog… well guard ghost."

"That's how we tracked down Wentworth. Reg disturbed him breaking in here," said Lexington.

"Speaking of which you said he was looking for some book?" said Enoch, plonking himself down into one of the chairs.

"Yep here it is," said Lexington. He leant down and pressed on one of the floorboards that popped upwards with a click. He slid the board to one side revealing a black stone box. Lexington removed the box and underneath was the book.

"Onyx stone?" said Enoch, looking at the black box.

"Did you take that from Mrs Formby's house?" asked Miro.

"Yes, only temporarily," said Lexington, placing the box on his desk and holding the book out for Enoch. "We'll return it once all of this has been sort out."

"Do we really need to investigate any further?" said Miro, as Enoch took the book and began turning it over and examining it. "Mrs Formby wanted us to find out what happened to her husband and we've done that."

"Just tying up loose ends," said Lexington shrugging. He nodded towards Enoch. "Anything? We couldn't even get it opened."

"I'm assuming you'd need one of these," said Enoch, rolling his sleeves up to reveal his tattoo. He held it against the face of the book for a few moments before trying to open it. "And… hey presto."

"It worked?" said Miro, leaning forward to look at the pages. There was what looked like writing on the pages but he didn't recognise any of the letters themselves let alone the words. "Can you read that?"

"Yep, another added bonus of the tattoo," said Enoch, as his eyes quickly skimmed over the words. He started to flick through the pages. "It's a spell-book, of sorts. Some history on Kai and the Sect, but mainly different rituals and incantations. A lot of stuff that has been banned. Even just reading this could probably get me a few months in Azkaban. No wonder Wentworth wanted this."

"See if there is anything in there that mentions Heir," advised Lexington. Enoch's frown prompted him to explain further. "Apparently someone opened the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts and left a message about an Heir, and when we first met Wentworth he said something about an Heir as well."

"Chamber of Secrets?" scoffed Enoch. "That's just rumour. Isn't it?"

"Maybe, maybe not," said Lexington. "It's amazing how many rumours turn out to be true. Look at the Ministry hushing up that incident with the Kosa last year."

"True," conceded Enoch, continuing to flick through the pages. "How did you find out about the Chamber? I doubt the Daily Prophet would have been allowed to publish any stories."

"Fred and George," said Miro. "We told them to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. A few of the students were Petrified but they said the last attack was months ago before the Christmas break so whoever was responsible has stopped."

"Before Christmas? And when did Wentworth first show his face?" asked Enoch.

"Before Christmas," said Lexington. "He tried stealing that book. I set a trap for him though."

"And I think I know why," said Enoch. He had stopped reading at a particular page right at the back of the book. "This section here deals with a resurrection spell."

"Resurrection? As in zombies?" said Miro.

"No, this one is for full on resurrection not just raising a body from the dead," said Enoch, as his eyes flicked over the words. "It looks like this would return someone's mind and soul from the netherworld, but they'd need a host for it to inhabit, and from the sound of it the host can't be an adult."

"Maybe that's what's happened over at Hogwarts. Wentworth was looking for a suitable host and Petrifying those that have made the shortlist," reasoned Miro.

"It's possible," nodded Enoch. "The incantation is very complicated and requires a lot of rare items. I can reach out to some old friends and see if anyone has been in the market for these things. If they've completed the list then the last thing they need is this book."

"Should we turn it over to the Ministry?" asked Miro.

"Pfft, might as well hand it straight over to the Sect of Kai ourselves, they'd probably stick it in a box somewhere and forget about it until someone steals it," said Lexington scoffing. "I'd say lock it up in Gringotts but they actually had a break in last year so it's no longer the safest place, plus they weren't exactly helpful when we asked about Formby, and Hogwarts is out if there are attacks taking place. No, it'll be best to keep this on us at all times."

"Well hopefully when we caught Wentworth it put this whole thing to bed," said Enoch, handing the book back to Lexington. "I'll check with my contacts about those items but as long as nothing else happens I'm sure it's safe to say this whole matter is resolved, but hold onto that book until I get back to you."

"I'll tell Fred and George to let us know if anything else happens up at the school," said Miro, reaching for a piece of parchment and quill.

"Yeah, anything suspicious," agreed Enoch. "And tell them I said hi."

"There was one suspicious thing," said Miro, grinning. "Fred has a date with Alicia Spinnet."

"Spinnet? Spinnett… oh, one of the Gryffindor Chasers? Yes, she was always rather good in my class," said Enoch, recalling his one year as a Hogwarts teacher. "Fair play to Fred. I mean, she could do better, but fair play to Fred."


	16. Chapter 16

It was the Easter holidays and most of the school were enjoying some time away from lessons and homework. The older classes were enjoying getting to spend some time down in Hogsmeade while the second years were fretting over picking additional classes for the next year. Ron was particularly worried and kept badgering Fred and George for their recommendations, since he knew their advice would probably mean signing up for the easiest lessons.

The fourth years had risen early and been escorted down to Hogsmeade by Professor McGonagall, or at least most of them had. Fred and George remained at the school. They had their Hogsmeade privileges revoked the previous week by the Deputy Headmistress for ignoring her threats regarding their usual prank war, which occurred every year between the twins on their birthday.

"I don't know why you're sulking," said George as his brother ignored all attempts to instigate a round of Exploding Snap.

"You got me banned from Hogsmeade," complained Fred.

"How? How did I possibly get you banned from Hogsmeade? It was _your_ prank that got us in trouble," replied George. "Don't get me wrong. It was an amazing prank. Exploding jelly and custard. I didn't even see you swap that onto my plate. And it went everywhere."

"See, the trick is not caring about how much it's going to explode," advised Fred. "Anyway, it's your fault because I was getting you back for your prank."

"Which one?"

"The stinky foot."

"Oh yeah, I put a Stench Hex on the inside of your sock so the smell transferred over when you put it on," said George, smiling at his own ingenuity. "Also, stuck a delay on it so it would only start working an hour after you'd put it on. Besides, I only did that to get back at you for the colour changing soap."

"That did leave you red-faced, I mean actually red-faced," said Fred.

"I thought I was bleeding."

"What did you expect you replaced my shoelaces with Always Tangle String? You're lucky I didn't fall down the stairs."

"More like unlucky. That would have been perfect revenge for the morning Howler you sent me."

"What?" said Fred, looking hurt. "I was just wishing you happy birthday."

"At four in the morning," replied George. "I should have done what the others did and slept down in the Common Room."

"Is that where they went?" said Fred. "Thought there was less snoring last night."

"How did Alicia take the news?"

"Surprisingly well," said Fred.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I explained to her I was banned from the Hogsmeade trip and also had detention halfway through, so I couldn't sneak into the village to meet her for out date and she said that was fine," said Fred.

"Did she say that was fine? Or did she just say 'fine'?" said George, trying to clarify the matter.

"She just said 'fine'," replied Fred. "That's okay though? Right?"

"Remember when dad tells mum he's going to do something and she replies 'fine', and then at no point does dad continue with what he planned on doing?" said George trying to be help.

"Yeah because he knows that if he does mum will kill him… oh."

"Exactly," nodded George.

"Hey er… Filch is looking for you," said Ron, who had just come through the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Oh right," said Fred, looking up at the clock. "Detention. Although I don't know why I have to go. It was your dessert that exploded."

"You made it explode," said George, as the two boys stood up. "If anything I'm the victim here. I probably should be in the Infirmary or something."

"I doubt they could do anything, I'm pretty sure mum and dad have already had to you tested to see why you aren't normal," said Fred.

"You're my twin. My _identical_ twin," explained George as they stepped out into the corridor. "When you say stuff like that you're only insulting yourself as well."

"I didn't say you didn't look normal. Hey Mr Filch," said Fred, nodding to the caretaker who was waiting for them in the corridor. He turned back to his brother. "I meant you aren't normal in the head. You know? Like an idiot."

"If I'm the idiot how come you copied your last Herbology homework off of me," said George. He looked at Filch and rolled his eyes before nodded towards his brother as if to say – _can you believe this idiot?_

"I copied off you because you had copied off Angelina, which you needed to do because you're an idiot."

"Ha! That makes you an idiot too then," said George, triumphantly. He turned to the caretaker once more. "That's right, isn't it? We're both idiots."

"I can honestly say this is the first time I've ever agreed with you idiots," said Filch. He waved his broom down the corridor. "Come on, you have a whole bunch of classrooms to clean."

"See? Filch thinks you're an idiot," said George, punching his brother in the shoulder.

"He thinks you're an idiot too," replied Fred, returning the punch. "Hey Mr Filch, you're a man of the world aren't you?"

"No talking," snapped Filch, who had long tired of being dragged into any of the twin's conversations.

"Come on, Mr Filch. You're a ladies man," said Fred. "We've all heard about you and Madam Pince."

"What?" stammered Filch, coming to a complete and sudden stop. He turned around. "There's nothing going on between me and Madam Pince… why? What have you heard?"

"Oh, well if you say there is nothing then there is nothing," said Fred. "I wouldn't want to spread gossip."

"Good," said Filch firmly. He turned back around and started walking again. "Not that I care, of course, but what kind of gossip are you talking about?"

"Oh you know? How you and Madam Pince are sort of sweet on each other? And you have a whole will-they-won't-they thing going on?" said Fred.

"Yeah and how you smooch behind the stacks at the back of the Library…" began George, who stopped mid-sentence as Filch suddenly turned towards him.

"Now listen here," snarled Filch, pushing a finger into George's chest, "Madam Pince is a lady, and ladies do not smooch anyone. Especially not behind the stacks at the back of the Library. I will not tolerate anyone trying to besmirch her good reputation."

"Okay, okay," said George, holding his hands up.

"We didn't mean to besmirch anyone," said Fred quickly. "Did I use that word correctly? Besmirch? Anyway, what I meant is that as a man of the world you'd be able to give me some advice when it comes to a lady."

"Apologise," stated Filch.

"I didn't actually say anything about Madam Pince," said Fred, pointing at his brother, "it was George…"

"To the girl," clarified Filch, still looking ahead. "Apologise to the girl."

"But I didn't even tell you what was going on," replied Fred.

"Don't need to. You said, or did, something stupid, probably both, so apologise," said Filch.

"I already did, and she said it was fine."

"Fine? She said 'fine'?" said Filch, grinning slightly. "Oh yeah, you're dead."

"Told you," said George.

"Here," snapped Filch. They had reached their destination. It was one of the long corridors that had several rooms that were used for various classes. Outside one of the rooms were two old gnarled brooms which had clearly seen better days. The caretaker picked them up and handed Fred and George once each.

"Oh, we have our own brooms for Quidditch," said George, holding his broom between his thumb and his finger. "Thanks anyway."

"They're for sweeping, not for flying. Like brooms are supposed to be used," replied Filch. He pointed at two of the rooms and then the twins in turn. "You go there. You, there. Sweep those rooms clean and then move onto the next ones until the whole corridor is done. Then sweep the corridor as well."

"But that'll take all afternoon," complained Fred.

"Then you'd better stop talking and start sweeping," barked Filch.

Although the cleaning of the rooms and the corridor did take up a large part of the afternoon neither Fred, nor George, were too bothered by the actual sweeping. Unbeknown to Filch both of the twins had learnt how to perform a relatively straightforward charm on the broomsticks which would make them sweep up on their own accord. The only downside was that the charm only made them sweep at a normal speed so they only saved effort and not time. They couldn't even just leave the brooms to work while they went elsewhere as Filch had a habit of trying to catch them doing nothing. He would routinely burst into the room whilst pointing an accusatory finger and shouting 'aha' before looking disappoint as whoever he was interrupting would just grab hold of their broom and appear to be tidying.

Filch made them wait around while him inspected each of the rooms and the corridor before he grudgingly acknowledged that their work was acceptable. Fred and George bade him goodnight and headed back up to the Common Room where they found it was filled with the fourth years who had just returned from Hogsmeade.

"Alright guys," said Lee, approaching them from across the room. "Where have you been?"

"Detention with Filch," said George.

"You seen Alicia?" asked Fred, looking around the room.

"Yeah she was…" said Lee, turning around, "… oh, she was just there. Maybe she went down for dinner already. There's something you should know though."

"What?"

"I saw her in Madam Puddifoot's with Rupert Cahir," said Lee reluctantly. "Sorry mate."

"Oh right," said Fred crestfallen. "Well, you know, it's not her fault I ended up in detention."

"Right," nodded Lee.

"It's George's," said Fred, pointing at his brother.

"Seriously," said George, rolling his eyes.

"Fine. It might not be George's fault," conceded Fred. "Not entirely. I mean some of it might have been my fault. Like about five or ten percent."

"Ahem," coughed George.

"Maybe twelve percent."

"Come on," said Lee, slapping a hand on his shoulder. "We'll head to the Great Hall and drown your sorrows in trifle."

During the holidays the meal times were less strict than during term time. People able to wander into the Great Hall when it suited them within a generous time slot that usually lasted over a few hours. This meant that it was normally less crowded and certainly less noisy.

"Hey guys, over here," shouted a voice as the three boys walked through the door. It was Alicia beckoning them over to where she was sat with Angelina. The boys sat down across the table from them. "How was detention?"

"Oh, you know Filch," said George. "He's always laughing, joking, making it fun. It's a wonder more people don't sign up for it."

"Sounds like a different Filch to the one I know," commented Angelina.

"He's much more relaxed during the holidays," said Fred. "I mean he only threatened to string me up by my thumbs four times."

"Four times? He only threatened me with that three times," said George. "Clearly, you're the favourite."

"Why do you think mum and dad named me Fred? 'F' for Fred, 'f' for favourite," reasoned Fred.

"Then was does 'g' stand for?" asked George.

"Git? Gimboid? Grump? Er… gidiot?" tried Fred.

"Gidiot?" said Angelina, raising an eyebrow.

"It's short for 'giddy idiot'," explained Fred.

"Giddy idiot?" said Angelina, mulling the phrase over in her head for a few moments before nodding her approval. "That works."

"Hey," said George, holding up a finger. "I am not giddy."

"Of the two words why is 'giddy' the one you are complaining about?" asked Lee.

The group chatted as they ate. Towards the end of the meal they were joined by Hermione. The girl who had systematically been asking every older student in Gryffindor their opinions on the additional classes she was planning on taking the following year. It turned out to be all of them. Angelina, who had previously chosen to take Ancient Runes, was animatedly discussing the benefits of the subject.

"Everyone says they are hard," said Angelina. "But once you get used to them they are actually pretty easy. I think I still have a book that covers a lot of the basics if you want a lend? _Ancient Runes Made Easy_."

"That'll be amazing," exclaimed Hermione.

"Come on, I'll see if I can dig it out," said Angelina standing up. "You coming Alicia?"

"Just finishing this. I'll be up in a minute," replied Alicia, pointing to her bowl of apple crumble.

"I think I might need a lie down after that," said Lee, pushing his bowl away.

"Me too," agreed George.

"Didn't you have a lie in this morning?" asked Lee. "You were both snoring your heads off when I headed off to Hogsmeade."

"That wasn't a lie in," said George.

"What time did you get up?" asked Lee.

"I dunno, about eleven."

"If that's not a lie in then what is it?"

"A good idea," replied George. He stretched his arms over his head and let out a long sigh before standing up. "Better get going or the prime napping armchair in front of the fire will be gone. You coming?"

"In a minute," advised Fred.

"Really? Cos you've finished your food," said George, pointing at his brother's plate.

"I know. I might just let my food settle first before I climb all those stairs," said Fred. He opened his eyes wide and tried to very subtly nod towards Alicia.

"Is your neck okay? You didn't strain it during detention did you?" asked George.

"Honestly," interjected Alicia, shaking her head. "He wants to talk to me in private. You really are a gidiot sometimes."

"Only sometimes?" scoffed Fred.

"Come on, you gidiot," said Lee, gesturing towards the door. "I'm missing valuable napping minutes."

"Merlin's Beard that word's not going to catch on is it?" complained George.

"So…" said Fred, once it was just him and Alicia.

"So…" repeated Alicia.

"Lee said you went to Madam Puddifoot's," said Fred.

"Yes, the cake she makes for Easter is amazing," said Alicia. "I asked her for the recipe but it's an old family secret so she wouldn't give it to me."

"Oh right," said Fred. "And did Rupert like it as well?"

"Rupert?"

"Cahir," said Fred. "Lee said he was with you."

"You'll have to ask Rupert if he enjoyed the cake," said Alicia, standing up. She went to walk away but turned back. "And you don't get to complain about who I spend time with, at least he was there and not in detention unlike some people."

"I didn't mean…" said Fred, but she had already stormed away. "That could have gone better."

Fred stood up and quickly hurried after the girl. Unfortunately as the twins had over the years already shown most of their friends the quickest routes between their classes, the Great Hall, and Gryffindor Tower, he had little hope of catching up with Alicia using one of the shortcuts since she already knew about them as well.

His suspicions that she had returned to Gryffindor House were confirmed when he arrived into the Common Room.

"She went up to her room," said Lee, who was lounging in one of the armchairs.

Fred looked over at the staircase to the girls' dormitory and thought for a few moments.

"I need a plunger. Better make that two," said Fred, looking serious.

"Merlin's Beard. Two? What did you eat?" said Lee, grimacing.

"Doesn't matter what I ate. Where would I get two plungers from?"

"Boys' bathroom has one in one of the stalls," said Lee, pointing towards the boys' dormitory staircase. "There might be another one in the supply closet in there."

Fred raced up the stairs and located the plunger in the stall, and quickly found a second one in the supply closet behind a stack of toilet paper. He came back down to the Common Room and bounced on his heels for a few moments, whilst holding one plunger in each hand with their 'sucker' facing downwards. By now everyone in the Common Room was watching him trying to work out what he was planning.

Fred took a deep breath and sprinted towards the stairs leading up to the girls' dormitories. He careened up the steps as fast as he could. As soon as he heard the loud klaxon sound starting to wail he launched himself into the air just as the stairs melted away to form a slide. He landed awkwardly, jarring one elbow off the stone, but was able to slam down his other hand. The plunger stuck fast onto surface of the stone and he was able to hold himself in place before he started sliding back down.

"No one come down the slide!" Fred shouted upward, his voice echoing around the staircase just above the sound of the alarm. "I'm coming up."

Slowly, and very carefully, he used his free hand to suction the second plunger further up the stairs and gradually dragged his whole body forward, before detaching the first plunger and repeating the process. It took him a while but through a great deal of effort and pure pig-headedness he eventually managed to pull himself all the way to a set of doors. He looked up to see his sister staring down at him.

"Hiya Ginny," said Fred, trying to catch his breath. "I don't suppose this is the fourth years' floor?"

"First years'," said Ginny, pointing up the stairs. "You need to keep going."

"Okay, I can do this," said Fred to himself before continuing to struggle his way up the stairs.

By the time he reached the next level the alarm had been silenced, he could hear cat-calls from below that sounded like George or Lee while ahead of him he could hear girls on the various levels shouting to each other for information on what exactly was going on. He looked up as he reached the next door and saw the seventh year prefect who had admonished him the first time he had set off the alarm. She had her arms folded and with her tight thin lipped expression seemed to be doing a very good impression of Professor McGonagall.

"What are you doing?" she asked tersely.

"Is this… is this the second years' floor?" asked Fred.

"No, it's the seventh years'," replied the girl. "And I'll ask again, what are you doing?"

"How can it be the seventh years' floor? I just went passed the first years'," said Fred despondently.

"Because we keep the same rooms for the whole time we're at the school. The new first years always replace the previous year's seventh years. It's the same for the boys."

"Oh yeah, never really noticed."

"I'll ask you one last time before I go and get McGonagall," said the prefect with her hands on her hips. "What are you doing?"

"I said something stupid to my friend and I upset her so I'm going to apologise," explained Fred.

"You're doing all this to say you're sorry?" asked the prefect.

"Yep," said Fred between taking in deep gasps of air.

"What year is she in?"

"Fourth."

"That's another three floors, you know that right?"

"Three? Merlin's Beard," said Fred, shaking his head. "Are you going to stop me?"

The girl looked thoughtful for a moment before leaning out of the doorway and shouting up the stairs, "some idiot's climbing up to the fourth years, no one come down the slide until I say it's clear."

"Thanks," said Fred, continuing on his way.

He slowly, and methodically, made his way up the stairs, pausing a few times to catch his breath or adjust his grip. He passed by the sixth years who similar to the others gawked at him from their doorways as he crawled ever upward. When he reached the fifth years they shouted some words of encouragement as he got to their door, one of them even provided him with a glass of water. He gratefully drank half of the drink before pouring the rest over his head to try and cool down.

Fred's arms and shoulders were sore from overexertion and he was sure he would have scrapes on his knees and elbows once all of this was over, but he pushed on regardless.

"You are aware this is probably the dumbest thing you have ever done?" said Angelina as he finally rounded the corner to the fourth years' dormitory. "And that's saying something."

"Oh hi Angelina," said Fred, trying to sound casual, which considering he had sweat pouring off his face was not an easy thing to manage. "Is Alicia in?"

"Really?" said Alicia, standing into the doorway with her arms folded. "I knew it was you, when Ophelia said some idiot was coming up I knew it was going to be you."

"I was just passing so I thought I'd better stop to say I was sorry," said Fred, wiping a hand across his forehead.

"You crawled up five flights to say you were sorry?"

"And to see if you wanted to go to Madam Puddifoot's with me next time we are due down to Hogsmeade. It's just after the next Quidditch match," said Fred, sounding hopeful.

"Well, I can't really say no, can I?" said Alicia, trying to keep a serious expression on her face but lapsing into a slight smile. "Not after you crawled all this way. You must be exhausted."

"You have no idea," panted Fred. "This is a hundred times worse than anything Oliver would get us to do. He'd probably think this was good…"

POP!

"Oh," was all that Fred managed to say. The two plungers he was holding onto unlatched themselves from the ground and sent him sliding back down the stairs. He barely had time to acknowledge each level on the way down before he shot out of the doorway at the bottom and slid across the floor. He looked up to see McGonagall's face which, even though it looked upside-down to him, appeared decidedly disapproving.

"Mr Weasley," said McGonagall in clipped tones, "I trust you have a good explanation for this?"

"Er…" said Fred, flicking his eyes at each of the plungers in turn before going back to looking at McGonagall, "would you believe I was sleepwalking?"

"Five points from Gryffindor, and detention," said McGonagall, turning briskly and heading towards the portrait hole. "And put those plungers back where you found them."


	17. Chapter 17

Once the Easter holidays were out of the way, and the match against Hufflepuff looming, Oliver put their Quidditch practices into high gear with sessions every night after dinner. Between that and their usual homework there was very little free time left. One saving grace was that the weather was improving so they no longer dredged water into the castle every time they finished on the Quidditch field.

"So, big event this weekend," said Lee when Fred and George returned from their final practice of the week.

"Pfft, Hufflepuff will be a pushover," said George, throwing his broom onto his bed.

"I meant Fred's date on Sunday," said Lee, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Yeah, you can tell he's been looking forward to it because he's behaving in class," said George, flopping down onto the bed next to his broom.

"I haven't been behaving," said Fred, indignantly. "I've just avoided getting into trouble."

"That's exactly what behaving means," said George.

"I just didn't want to get detention again like last time," replied Fred.

"You could have just asked George to do it for you," said Lee.

"What?" asked Fred as George lifted his head off his pillow.

"Well you're identical twins, right? I'm your best friend and _I_ have trouble telling you apart. So if Fred was given detention then George could do it as a favour and no one would know. Certainly not Filch anyway," said Lee.

"This is our fourth year, why are you only mentioning this now?" asked Fred.

"Cos I thought it was kinda obvious, plus there is one massive flaw in the plan," replied Lee.

"All this time, you could have been doing my detentions for me," said George, shaking his head. He looked at Lee. "What massive flaw?"

"You two always get given detention together."

"Oh… yeah," said Fred frowning. "It would have been a good idea otherwise."

"So what's the plan for Sunday?" asked Lee.

"Well I'm thinking we head to Zonko's and Honeydukes to start with, before ending up at the Three Broomsticks for some nice Butterbeers," advised George lying back down with his hands cupped under his head.

"I meant Fred," said Lee, hurling a pillow with deadly accuracy across the room towards George.

"I dunno," said Fred, "we were just going to Madam Puddifoot's and I hadn't really thought of anything other than that."

"Surely you have something planned?" asked Lee.

"Nah, haven't really had time to plan anything," said Fred as he stuck his broom underneath his bed. "Oliver has been killing us with the practices so haven't really thought about anything else."

"Yeah, as much as I love Quidditch, I can't wait to take a break from it. Although I wouldn't put it passed Oliver to schedule a practice for after the match," said George, closing his eyes.

"Don't even say that jokingly, if Oliver thought he could squeeze any extra time on the pitch he'd do it. We're only finished now because Angelina convinced him it was better the team were well rested for the match tomorrow," said Fred, yawning as he spoke.

"It's only Hufflepuff tomorrow," said Lee, dismissively waving a hand. "You'll probably be three goals up before people have even settled into their seats."

"Zzzzz…" George snored his response.

"George?" said Lee, looking over at the boy's bed. "Are you asleep already?" There was no reply. "Can you believe it? He's completely out cold. Fred? Fred?"

"Zzzzz…."

* * *

Fred and George woke early the next day, fresh and revitalised as brilliant bright sunlight shone through the window.

"Only a light breeze. Perfect Quidditch conditions," said Oliver enthusiastically at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. He started loaded everyone's plates with scrambled eggs. "Harry, buck up there, you need a decent breakfast."

Harry, who had been staring along the Gryffindor, table looked up and held his plate out for Oliver.

"Mustn't have slept well," commented Fred as he piled some sausages on top of his eggs.

"Usually happens before a big game," agreed George.

"Unless you get run ragged during a training session, and pass straight out as your head hits the pillow," said Alicia.

"Hey, same here," said George. "Woke up still in my robes."

"At least you made it to bed," said Katie. "I made the mistake of sitting down on one of the couches in the Common Room when I came up, completely zonked out. No one bothered to wake me, although someone did put a blanket over me."

"That was Lee," explained George, taking a bite from some bacon. "Spoke with him earlier. Apparently he did try to wake you rather than leave you in the Common Room on your own but you were rather insistent that you weren't going to go anywhere."

"Sounds about right," said Angelina, smirking. "It's well known that you don't risk waking Katie unless you want to get sworn at."

"I'm not that bad," said Katie. This comment caused Alicia to nearly choke on her drink.

"Not that bad?" laughed Alicia. "Didn't you throw an alarm clock at someone's head?"

"No," said Katie, looking sheepish. "I threw the alarm clock, and it happened to hit someone's head. It's not like I was aiming for it. I was half asleep anyway so I don't really remember it."

"Sounds like most of my morning classes," said Fred, between bites. "The half-asleep-not-remembering part not the braining-someone-with-an-alarm-clock part."

The difference in the team attitude at breakfast compared with the breakfast that had just before the Slytherin match was striking. Whereas before each person silently ate their food without barely more than a glance at the rest of their teammates this time everyone was chatting and joking animatedly with each other. At least almost everyone. Harry was rather quiet and spent more time herding his food around his plate rather than actually eating, eventually he pushed his plate away and headed over to where Ron and Hermione were sitting with the rest of their year.

"Harry wasn't chatty today was he?" said Alicia, watching at the Seeker sat down next to his friends.

"He knows that the game pretty much rests on his shoulders," said Oliver, who had spent most of breakfast making sure everyone had eaten enough to keep up their strength. "I can almost guarantee Hufflepuff will go defensive, and hope Shannon catches the Snitch first. So it's up to Harry to either catch the Snitch before Shannon or at least prevent him from catching it until we've scored at least one hundred and fifty points more than Hufflepuff."

"So no pressure then?" said Angelina sarcastically. "No wonder he didn't eat anything."

The team rose from their seats about half an hour before the match was due to start and headed back up to Gryffindor Tower to collect their brooms and robes. They quickly changed and headed out onto the pitch. The viewing stands had already begun to fill up as people arrived early to get the best views of the match. The team took to the field to tumultuous applause and Oliver and the twins did a few warm up laps while the Hufflepuff team huddled together working through some last minute tactics. The twins soared up into the air and each took it in turns to pull off a tricky loop-the-loop in front of the delighted Gryffindor students who shouted their approval.

The match was just about to begin with a figure hurriedly marched onto the pitch.

"Who's that?" Fred shouted over to his brother who was closer to the intruder.

"It's McGonagall!"

"This match has been cancelled!" shouted Professor McGonagall through an enormous purple megaphone. There was a chorus of boos.

"But Professor…" shouted Oliver who had landed and was trying to run over to her with his broom still between his legs, "we've got to play… the cup… Gryffindor…"

"All students are to make their way back to the House Common Rooms, where their Heads of Houses will give them further information. As quickly as you can please!" ordered McGonagall as she ignored Oliver's protests. She turned and seemed to beckon Harry.

"What's that about?" said Fred, landing on the ground quickly followed by his brother.

"No idea," said George as they watched Harry being led away by McGonagall. A redheaded figure detached himself from the crowd filtering back to the school. "Looks like Ron's going with them."

"Did McGonagall say anything to you?" Katie asked Oliver as the remaining team came together.

"No," said Oliver. "She just called Harry over and said he should go with her."

"I hope it's nothing serious," said Alicia watching as the entire school headed back up to the castle. "Should we get changed?"

"McGonagall said we should go back as soon as we can, so I say we just grab our clothes and change back in our rooms," reasoned Angelina.

The Common Room was filled to capacity as everyone waited to hear the announcement, with small groups each coming up with their own theories as to what it would be each suggestion being more ridiculous than the last.

"I don't know why you are dismissing it," said Oliver to the rest of the team. As they were last back to their House they were huddled together close to the entrance.

"Why would we be at war?" replied Angelina.

"Because why else would they cancel a Quidditch match?" said Oliver, who had chewed his nails all the way down to his fingertips.

"Maybe the Ministry has banned Quidditch," said George. Although the rest of the team instantly knew he was joking the colour drained from Oliver's face.

"They couldn't do that, could they?" said Oliver looking thoroughly distraught.

Before anyone could answer the portrait door swung open and in stepped Harry and Ron, closely followed by Professor McGonagall. Both boys looked distressed but didn't make any comments as the Head of Gryffindor House made her way into the Common Room and stood in front of the notice board. The crowd fell into an expectant silence.

"I am afraid to say there has been a double attack in the school," said McGonagall. She waved everyone to be quiet as the announcement sent a wave of gasps through the group. "Penelope Clearwater from Ravenclaw and…our own Hermione Granger. They were both found Petrified and brought to the Hospital Wing."

She took out a parchment from her pocket, unravelled it, and began reading.

"All students will return to their House Common Rooms by six o'clock in the evening. No student is to leave the dormitories after that time. You will be escorted to each lesson by a teacher. No student is to use the bathroom unaccompanied by a teacher. All further Quidditch training and matches are to be postponed. There will be no more evening activities."

She rolled up the parchment and said in a somewhat choke voice, "I need hardly add that I have rarely been so distressed. It is likely that the school will be closed unless the culprit behind these attacks is caught. I would urge anyone who thinks they might know anything about them to come forward." McGonagall turned around and climbed awkwardly out of the portrait hole, and the Gryffindors began talking immediately.

"That's two Gryffindors down, not counting a Gryffindor ghost, one Ravenclaw, and one Hufflepuff," said Lee, counting on his fingers. "Haven't any of the teachers noticed that the Slytherins are all safe? Isn't it obvious all this stuff's coming from Slytherin? The Heir of Slytherin, the monster of Slytherin… why don't they just chuck all the Slytherins out?" he roared, to nods and a smattering of applause.

Percy, who would normally revel at the chance to rally everyone together, was uncharacteristically quiet. He sat back on a chair looking pale and stunned.

"Percy's in shock," George whispered to Harry. "That Ravenclaw girl, Penelope Clearwater, she's a prefect. I don't think he thought the monster would dare attack a prefect."

Harry half nodded and moved away to talk to Ron who looked worried.

"How's Harry taking it? Him and Ron are pretty close to Hermione," said Fred.

"How do you expect?" said George, nodding over to where Harry and Ron were chatting quietly to themselves. "It kinda hits home when it's someone you know. I mean Creevy was a Gryffindor sure but he's a first year so we barely know him and the other was a Hufflepuff in Ron's year, but Hermione? Nah, everyone's going to be effected by that."

"We're going to have to let Miro know what's going on," said Fred, rubbing his chin. "We thought the attacks were over but two in one-go makes it look like whoever is behind them might be stepping things up a bit."

"Yeah, I thought they'd been scared off," agreed George.

"Better go and write the letter now, I don't know when we'll have a chance to send it," said Fred. He looked over at Lee who was still riling the rest of the Gryffindor's against Slytherin. "Should we tell him?"

"Nah," said George, shaking his head. "He seems like he's enjoying himself."

It didn't take them long to concoct the letter but as Fred suspected they would have to wait to send it. They weren't able to convince any of the students who had their own owl to let the twins borrow them, since they had garnered a reputation for sending stuff in the post that could explode or catch fire at a moment's notice. Neither were they able to visit the school's Owlery as there were now two prefects stationed outside of Gryffindor Tower to prevent anyone leaving. A quick check of the Marauders' Map showed that other prefects were similarly positioned at the entrance of each of the Houses while the teachers and remaining perfects were patrolling the school in pairs.

"It's just awful," said Alicia as she sat next to Angelina in the corner of the room. "I thought all this was over."

"They thought they had scared whoever it was off," said Angelina, shaking her head. "Obviously they never actually found who did it."

"Were they even searching for anyone?" asked Lee. "Or were they just hoping that they would stop?"

"It's been months since the last attack and other than the weird writing on the wall there weren't any other clues," reasoned Angelina.

"We might know someone that knows something," said Fred.

"Yes, but we were supposed to keep that to ourselves," said George, giving his brother a warning look.

"It couldn't hurt to let them know," said Fred, nodding his head towards the girls. "They might have heard something we haven't."

"Fine," said George giving in. "Off you go."

"Right," said Fred, leaning forward. "Do you remember a few years ago when we had the school trip to Egypt?"

"You mean when a bunch of wizards tried to kill us and we ended up fighting for our lives in an ancient burial tomb? No, that completely slipped my mind," said Angelina dryly.

"The guys that attacked us were from this group called…"

"The Sect of Kai," said Alicia, interrupting. "We were all interviewed afterwards at the Egyptian school. A whole big deal was made about capturing the rest of them."

"That's right," said Fred, nodding. "Anyway, they didn't capture everyone. At least one of them got away and he sent a Kosa after me and George."

"Not this nonsense again? A Kosa? After you two?" said Angelina.

"Well technically he sent it after my uncle but Valek, the Kosa, thought the best way to get to Enoch was to attack us," explained Fred.

"You're still going on about this?" said Angelina, looking at each of the twins for a moment. "You're serious aren't you?"

"Of course. When are we not serious?" said George, pretending to look offended.

"Don't answer that," said Lee quickly, "we don't have time for you to list everything before the end of the school year."

"Very funny," said Fred. "And yes we are serious. This guy, Wentworth, was the leader of those that attacked in Egypt and he ordered the Kosa to get my uncle. Luckily, we were able to stop him."

"Stop going on about Kosa, okay? I'm having a hard enough time believing you were attacked last year without more of that nonsense," said Angelina who couldn't roll her eyes any more without fear of permanently damaging her vision.

"Do you want to hear the story or not?" said Fred.

"Okay, but if you start mentioning fighting a Grumkin or battling a Snark then I'm done," said Angelina, folding her arms.

"Anyway…" said Fred, waiting for a further interruption. When one wasn't forthcoming he continued, "Miro and his old Auror trainer have been investigating a missing person and it turns out that Wentworth had something to do with it. And when they finally caught up with him he mentioned something about the Heir."

"The Heir of Slytherin?" said Alicia, looking worried.

"It has to be," nodded Fred. "The Sect is thousands of years old; it's possible that Salazar Slytherin was a member."

"You should tell McGonagall," advised Alicia.

"Do you think she'd believe us?" scoffed George. "Besides knowing the Sect might be behind the attacks doesn't actually help us stop them."

"What if one of the students is in this Sect?" asked Angelina. "Like that first year a couple of years ago?"

"Sebastian?" said Fred, referring to the young student who revealed himself to be a member of the Sect of Kai.

"Yeah, he was in the Sect _and_ he was sorted into Slytherin," said Angelina. "It's possible he wasn't the only one."

"I'm sure everyone was investigated after he was caught," said Lee.

"How can you be absolutely sure?" said Angelina insistently.

"You can't," said Lee shrugging.

"Exactly," said Angelina. She looked thoughtful for a few moments. "What happened to Sebastian? Surely they wouldn't have sent him to Azkaban?"

"Not sure," admitted Fred. "His mum ended up there, but I think Dumbledore was going to write to the Ministry to ask them to go easy on him."

"He'll probably know about other members," said Angelina. "Especially, if there were any others in the school."

"I'll add that to the letter I'm sending Miro, he's in contact with Enoch so maybe one of them will know what happened to Sebastian," said Fred.

"You can borrow my owl and send it tonight," said Angelina, before waving a warning finger under his nose. "Just the letter, don't send anything that will explode."

"Just the letter," confirmed Fred. He turned to address his brother. "See? Told you they would think of something."

"We might have got there eventually," said George.

"Yeah, after half the school had been attacked," replied Angelina.

* * *

Although the letter had been sent that night and Miro received it first thing in the morning, the news of the attack had already been surpassed by even more disturbing information. That evening, while the students had been confined to their Houses, the Minister of Magic himself, Cornelius Fudge, had arrived at the school and taken Hagrid into custody. Furthermore, as if matters couldn't get any worse, Lucius Malfoy had also arrived with a signed order from the governors of Hogwarts which suspended Dumbledore for failing to prevent the attacks.

"Have you read this nonsense?" said Lexington, throwing down his copy of the Daily Prophet. The front page showed a picture of a smug looking Lucius Malfoy reading from a prepared statement with an accompany headline that read 'Students Attacks, Governors Blame Dumbledore.' "Removing Albus is the worst thing they could have done. Nothing but politics from Malfoy."

"Yeah," said Miro, opening the letter from Fred. "Read it earlier. There was no mention of Hagrid though. Just that 'someone' had been detained as a possible suspect. How did you find out about that?"

"Even though the Auror's are shutting me out I still have some friends up at the Ministry," explained Lexington. "The last time the Chamber was opened someone died. My contacts said that Hagrid was a student at the time and was blamed and expelled, and the attacks stopped. They seemed to think that was proof enough to arrest him this time."

"Ridiculous," said Miro shaking his head. "Hagrid loves Hogwarts, and he loves the students. He'd never hurt anyone."

"Unfortunately the Ministry would rather arrest the wrong person rather than appear to be doing nothing," said Lexington, looking disgusted. "I knew Fudge wouldn't be the best Minister but I didn't think he'd be this short-sighted. Who's the letter from?"

"Fred and George," said Miro, waving the parchment. "Basically telling us about the attack; a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw, both Petrified… school on lockdown. No mention of Hagrid or Dumbledore so they probably sent this early. Here's something though… they mention a kid, called Sebastian Walsh, apparently he was in the Sect of Kai along with his mother. They said if we can find him he might know if there is another member at Hogwarts."

"Sebastian Walsh? You know him?"

"Not really, he was a first year the year I left," said Miro. "Enoch will know him; he taught at Hogwarts that year. Assuming he was arrested where would they take him. Not Azkaban?"

"No," said Lexington, shaking his head. "Azkaban is adults only. Underage wizards at worst have their wands snapped and are expelled from Hogwarts, but obviously his mother would have been arrested as well so it's not as if he could have just returned home. I'll reach out to my contacts and see if we can find out what happened to him, I'll get hold of Enoch as well just in case he knows. If we find the boy we might need a friendly face to convince him to give us any useful information."

There was a quiet knock at the door of the office before the handle was twisted and a familiar face appeared around the frame.

"Mrs Formby," said Lexington, standing up from behind his desk. "Please do come in."

"Hello Mr Lexington, Mr Franca," said the woman, nodding a greeting to each man in turn. "I'm sorry to intrude, but your last letter said that you had some information."

"Please sit down Mrs Formby," said Lexington, guiding her to one of the chairs. "There's no easy way to say this, but I believe your husband is dead."

"Dead?" said Mrs Formby looking shocked. "Who would do such a terrible thing?"

"We track down the man we believe you overheard arguing with your husband. His name was Ardmore Wentworth, does that name mean anything?" asked Lexington.

"No, never heard of him," said Mrs Formby softly.

"Well we confronted him about your husband and he claimed to have killed him. Don't get me wrong, this guy is a scumbag but I don't think he was lying about that," said Lexington. "I'm truly sorry."

"And what happened to this man? This Ardmore Wentworth?" asked Mrs Formby taking out a handkerchief and dabbing at her eyes.

"He's in custody with the Egyptian Ministry at the moment," said Miro.

"At least that's something. Did he say why he killed him?"

"For the book we found at your house," said Lexington, taking it out of his inside pocket and holding it up. "Your husband refused to give it to him. He died a brave man."

"That damned book," said Mrs Formby fiercely. She held out a hand. "I would very much like it if it was destroyed."

"Me too," said Lexington. "And when it comes to it I will allow you to destroy it yourself if you wish but I need to hold onto it for the time being."

"For what purpose? I thought the man responsible had been captured. Everything's finished, isn't it?" said Mrs Formby, looking worried.

"There have been some developments that might involve this book and Hogwarts," said Lexington.

"Hogwarts?" said Mrs Formby, frowning. She pointed towards the Daily Prophet on the desk. "You mean the attacks? I thought they had solved that?"

"It's possible it's a complete dead-end but it's just something I want to follow up," said Lexington. "And don't worry, we don't expect you to pay us for this, I just want to make sure we explored every avenue and make sure your husband gets justice."

"Oh of course," said Mrs Formby, sniffing slightly. "That's very kind of you. I guess I should be going."

"We'll let you know if we find anything," said Lexington, escorting her towards the door.

"Thank you so much," she said, warmly grasping his hand between both of hers.

"'We don't expect you to pay us?'" said Miro, once they were alone.

"For the extra work," said Lexington. He pointed towards the door. "You don't think she thought I meant not to pay us at all?"

"That's what it sounded like to me," said Miro.

"Damn it," said Lexington letting out a sigh. "I guess I can sell a few more things to tide us over."

"Morning fellas," said Enoch, walking into the office without knocking.

"Just the man," said Lexington. "Does the name…"

"Sebastian Walsh," said Miro, as the man looked to him for assistance.

"Yes, Sebastian Walsh, does that mean anything to you?"

"Sebastian? Yes, I taught him at Hogwarts. Poor kid was brainwashed into the Sect of Kai," said Enoch.

"Any ideas what happened to him?"

"Last I heard the Ministry was trying to locate some extended family," said Enoch, shrugging. "Not sure if they were able to since most were found to be in the Sect and arrested. I'll try and find out."

"Good, we might need him," said Lexington.

"That's not all we need," said Miro as his stomach growled.

"I'll get some money together and we'll grab breakfast," advised Lexington.

"That's why I'm here actually," said Enoch smiling.

"Breakfast?" said Miro.

"Money," replied Enoch, taking out a large pouch from his pocket and handing it to Lexington.

"What's this for?" said Lexington.

"Reward money for capturing Wentworth," said Enoch. "You didn't think I was helping to track Sect members down out of the goodness of my heart? There's a reward for each one caught, and a bonus if they are captured alive. You caught him so it's only fair you get the money."

"Much obliged," said Lexington. He opened the pouch, peered inside, and let out an appreciative whistle. "I doubt we'll need to worry about money for while Miro. Looks like breakfast is on us."


	18. Chapter 18

The atmosphere at Hogwarts over the next few days was buzzing with suspicion and rumour. First came the morning announcement during breakfast that Dumbledore had been suspended by the Hogwarts governors, secondly, through word of mouth, came the equally shocking news that Hagrid had been sent to Azkaban, the wizard prison, on the same night the Headmaster had been relieved of his duties. McGonagall had been left in temporary charge but was in no mood to give the students any more information than she had already provided them, and had already threatened to put the twins in detention if they continued to press her with questions.

The twins were quickly able to link the source of the news about Hagrid to Draco Malfoy, whose father not only had been present when the gamekeeper had been escorted from the school, but as one of the school's governors had also been the one to arrange Dumbledore's suspension. The boy was strutting around the school and telling anyone that would listen that it was all down to his father and that it was long overdue.

The Common Room became extremely busy after six o'clock since no one, other than the prefects, were allowed out of their Houses and the choice was either to stay there or head up to the dormitories. The twins spent most of their free time playing Exploding Snap with Lee, but after a while switched to Wizard Chess as it tended to annoy the rest of the room's occupants less. Even though she wasn't in her year Ginny in particular had taken the news that Hermione had been Petrified quite badly and had taken to sitting in quiet in the girl's usual chair in the Common Room, and ignored all attempts from the twins to cheer her up.

The whole school had an undercurrent of fear as students were escorted by teachers between classes. The prefects and teachers had taken to constant night time patrols throughout the school. While Madam Pomfrey had now deemed the Hospital Wing completely off limits to everyone and had barricaded the door shut in case someone tried to finish off the Petrified students. The only person who didn't seem that phased by the situation was Professor Lockhart, who repeatedly claimed that since Hagrid was clearly the culprit, and had been imprisoned, that there was no longer anything for anyone to fear.

"I still can't believe they expect us to do exams," complained Angelina, slumping down on the couch next to Alicia. Each class had been informed that despite the current conditions they would still have end of year tests.

"Apparently Dumbledore wanted the school to keep running as normal," said Lee, sitting down in one of the armchairs before either of the twins could get there. Fred got to the other armchair first while George decided to lounge on one of its armrests.

"Normal? What's normal about any of this?" said Angelina, throwing her hands up. "We're marched around between classes, we're practically imprisoned in Gryffindor Tower after six o'clock, and they are still no closer to finding out who did it. I don't care what Lockhart says there is no way Hagrid had anything to do with this."

"What about Miro?" Alicia turned to ask the twins.

"I doubt he has anything to do with this either," replied George, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"I meant; has he had any luck finding anything out?" said Alicia, realising she should have phrased her question better knowing how the twins normally answered things.

"Nothing yet," said Fred, shaking his head. "They're trying to track down Sebastian to see if he can help."

"Hopefully he'll be able to," said Angelina, rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands. "I can't imagine what'll happen next year if this whole Chamber of Secrets nonsense isn't solved. Will they even let the school stay open? Will we just have to stay at home in September?"

"What'll happen then?" asked Fred, looking at each of his friends. "We'd probably have to be taught by mum and dad."

"Can you imagine mum teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts?" laughed George, as he pictured it in his head.

"'You don't be dealing with anyone who practices the Dart Arts, you just tell them to head on home and stop being silly,'" said Fred, mimicking his mother's voice as best as he could, while wagging his finger.

"Or dad doing Potions?" said George, putting on a similar impression for his father. "'Now son, the recipe calls for five Snapping Dragon Roots but let's see what happens if we dump the whole lot in, just don't tell your mother.'"

"At least now I know where you get that from," said Angelina smiling.

"Actually _he_ gets it from dad," said George pointing at his brother. " _I_ get it from him."

"You know what the worst part about being confined to Gryffindor House?" said Alicia after a while. "It's the lack of snacks. If I'm feeling peckish after six I can't just wander down to the kitchen and grab something."

"Sure you can," scoffed Fred.

"Not without getting caught I can't," replied Alicia. "Don't forget they have two prefects right next to the Fat Lady and then there are the patrols throughout the school."

"Those patrols won't catch you, not if you are careful and use all the secret passages ways," said George, leaning forward on the arm of the chair. "As for the prefects outside, all you have to do is hide in the little area behind the tapestry in the hall just after the portrait and wait for their shift change. They always have a little chat in the Common Room for about ten minutes before the new prefects take their posts. Then on the way back you make a sound at one end of the corridor and while they are investigating that you sneak along the back passageway and slip through the portrait from the other side of the corridor."

"You've done it haven't you?" said Angelina with a look of quiet appreciation. "When?."

"Not yet, but we planned it out in case we were peckish," admitted George, nodding towards his brother. "Plus I really want to see if we could sneak in and out. I like a challenge. What do you reckon Fred?"

"It'll be easy," replied Fred, shrugging his shoulders.

"What would you do if you get caught?" asked Alicia.

"I dunno… say I was sleepwalking?" said George, ignoring the fact that the last time Fred tried that excuse with McGonagall he ended up in detention and lost House Points.

"I'll just tell them I was George," said Fred, pointing at his brother. "That way at least I won't get in trouble. I mean, who's going to check?"

"That is sneaky and underhanded," said George, wagging a finger.

"Jealous you didn't think of it first?" asked Fred.

"Of course," said George, "but to be fair Lee thought of it first, so he should get the credit."

"You coming Lee?"

"No chance. My parents gave me a right talking to over Christmas about how many detentions I was getting. I'm not pushing my luck. Plus can you imagine what would happen if you went out there tonight and came face to face with the monster of Slytherin?" said Lee, pulling a face.

"You mean Snape, don't you?" said George.

"He's much scarier," said Lee. "At least the thing from the Chamber only Petrifies you."

"So, we doing this?" said Fred, rubbing his hands together eagerly.

"Not for another hour," said George looking up at the clock. "The prefects usually swap out every three hours so next one should be around nine."

"Seriously? You're doing this?" said Angelina, looking at each of the twins in turn.

"Hey, Alicia wants snacks," said Fred, pointing at the girl.

"Uh-uh no, you aren't blaming me for this one," said Alicia, folding her arms across her chest. "I'd rather you two weren't getting into trouble."

"Because you care?" asked Fred, tilting his head to one side.

"Because you'd lose us loads of House Points and we'd lose the House Cup," replied Alicia.

"And because you care," stated Fred.

"About the House Points," added Alicia.

The group chatted away for the next few hours while they waited for the prefects' shift change and the boys took the time to show Alicia and Angelina the wonders of Exploding Snap. The girls were not that impressed with the game, especially when the cards decided to detonate in their hands and elected to let the boys play while they just watched from a safe distance.

It was soon nearly nine o'clock and Fred and George moved from the Common Room into the small hallway that led to the portrait. There was a large tapestry which had a hidden room behind it which in turn led to a small secret bathroom with one toilet. It was rarely used since the toilet backed onto the wall where the fireplace was in the Common Room and therefore had a habit of becoming uncomfortably hot if you remained seated for too long.

As the clock ticked over to nine o'clock Fred poked his head out of a small gap in the tapestry. He pulled back once he saw the portrait swinging open and waited until he heard the footsteps pass by their hiding place. He waited a couple of seconds until he could hear Lee's voice talking loudly.

"So it seems to me it's rather easy to become a prefect," said Lee, as he stood up from his armchair and tried to distract them as best as he could. "Would you four say it was easy?"

Fred and George didn't wait around to hear the answers and slipped quickly out and through the portrait. They scurried along the corridor until they came to one of the secret passageways which they were sure only they knew about.

"Check the map," advised George.

"Okay, what have we got?" said Fred, who had activated the Marauders' Map and was waiting for the scribbled interior of the castle to finish being drawn. "Looks like we need to avoid going this way because that will bring us passed Ravenclaw's prefects, third and fourth floor routes seems to be clear, we only need to worry about this part because it looks like Flitwick and Pince are patrolling there. I wouldn't worry too much about Flitwick but Pince has hearing like a Jabberjunk. And then we come in from this side so we don't have to go passed Hufflepuff House."

"Do Jabberjunks have good hearing?"

"Obviously, their ears are huge," explained Fred. "Come on, before people move too far from their positions."

The pair hurried through the school, stopping occasionally to check that the coast was still clear. There was an awkward moment when they nearly bumped into Snape and had to stay just the other side of a door while they waited for him to eventually move away.

"That was close," commented George, once they were happy the teacher was well out of earshot. "Has he gone?"

"Give him a bit longer," advised Fred, looking at the map. "Okay, that should be enough. Go, straight through to the kitchens."

George led the way as they crossed the hall and down a set of stairs that led out in front of the kitchens. They tickled a pear on one of the paintings until it turned into the handle to open the doorway and they slipped inside.

Downstairs they were greeted by a huge cheer from the House-Elves who were delighted that they had come down to the kitchen as it always meant extra work for them and if it was one thing House-Elves lived for it was extra work.

"I always feel so appreciated here," said George, as a House-Elf led them to a table and sat them down.

"Okay guys we only need a few things but this is what we need," said Fred, as hundreds of eager faces turned to look at him. There was a slight grumbled of disappointment at the mention of 'a few things' but this was quickly replaced as they wanted to appear keen to help.

As Fred began listing off the various cakes and pastries they wanted George looked around the room. There were a few House-Elves scurrying across the floor to the pantry on the far side of the room to collect the different ingredients needed for the order while others were just going about their usual cleaning duties. Occasionally there was a loud crack which caught George's attention, but each time it happened he was unable to spot what was causing the noise until he finally happened to be looking in the right direction at the right time.

Crack! Suddenly a House-Elf appeared out of thin air.

"Hey you," said George, waving at the House-Elf and then beckoning him over. "Did you just Apparate?"

"Yes sir, I did sir," said the House-Elf, bowing his head so low it practically bounced off of his knees.

"But you can't Apparate in Hogwarts," said George.

"I can't?" said the House-Elf looking extremely worried.

"No, I don't mean you aren't allowed," said George quickly, before the House-Elf started punishing himself for breaking the rules. "I just meant that I didn't think it was possible."

"Oh," said the House-Elf, letting out a sigh of relief. "House-Elves can Apparate in school. Wizards aren't allowed, because they are important so have to use doors."

"Can you do a sidelong Apparition?" asked George cautiously.

"Yes but not with students as that is forbidden," said the House-Elf.

"Oh," said George, looking disappointed.

"Unless it is emergency," said the House-Elf, trying to be helpful.

"What kind of emergency?" asked George. The House-Elves were starting to bring over the baked goods to the table. Fred tasted a few of them purely for quality control purposes.

"If student hurt," explained the House-Elf.

"Have you ever been hungry?" said George, trying to ignore the sound of his brother eating.

"No, Headmaster is very good at making sure House-Elves fed and looked after properly."

"Ah well when you are hungry, you get a pain in your stomach," said George, patting his belly. He pointed over to where his brother was feeding his face. "And there are a few students in Gryffindor who are hungry and me and Fred came down here to get some food for them, because we are two very caring people."

"You are very kind," nodded the House-Elf.

"But we might have a bit of trouble carrying everything back, plus it might take a while if we have to walk the whole way," said George. "So I was wondering if you could Apparate us back to our dorm room. You know, seeing as how it is an emergency."

"Of course. It is emergency," said the House-Elf.

"Brilliant," said George, grinning. "Hey Fred, we got a lift back."

"Waa?" mumbled Fred with his mouth full of food.

A few minutes later Fred and George found themselves transported to their dorm room whilst each carrying a large silver platter filled to the brim with pastries. It was empty as everyone was down in the Common Room like they were most evenings. The pair thanked the House-Elf and made their way down the stairs.

"How did you get there?" demanded Lee, as he saw his friends enter the Common Room. "There's no way I missed you sneaking back in. Have you found a second entrance into the Tower?"

"Come on Lee, we can't tell you all our secrets," said George, putting a platter of cakes down onto a table. They had elected to leave the second platter in their room just in case they wanted a snack at some point during the night.

"Yeah," agreed Fred. "You've got to leave us a little something to wow you with."

"Fine," said Lee, picking up the nearest cake and taking a bite. "As long as you guys keep bringing these up I don't care how you get them."

* * *

"Come on, keep moving," barked the man, shoving Wentworth forward with a push in the back. The motion caused him to become unbalanced and he stumbled against the wall.

"Careful," snarled Wentworth, making a show that his hands were tied behind his back.

"Listen to this one, giving orders," laughed the man who had pushed him. His name was Thomas Brendan but everyone for as long as they could remember called him Twitch because of his inability to control a slight spasm in the muscle next to his left eye.

"Yeah Twitch," said a second man with a high pitched nasal voice. "Anyone would think he was in charge."

The two men had been present when the Egyptian Ministry had temporarily handed Wentworth over to the British Ministry for questioning. They had been tasked with escorting him to his new home which was a prison cell deep within the Ministry of Magic itself.

"You're lucky they want to talk to you," said Twitch, pushing Wentworth again this time with much more force. "Otherwise it would have been straight to Azkaban. Wouldn't Trev?"

"Aye yes it would," replied Trevor.

"Might as well take me there now," spat Wentworth. "I've got nothing to say, and I'm proficient enough in Occlumency to keep it that way."

"Maybe you are," said Twitch, nodding his head. "But wait 'til one of those Unspeakables gets to work on you. They'll have ways of making you talk."

"Do you have any idea who I am?" snapped Wentworth, turning his head to address the men.

"Yeah, someone dumb enough to get in trouble with two different Ministries and get caught," laughed Twitch, giving Wentworth another push along.

"I'll remember you. When Kai is reborn and crushes all beneath him, I'll make sure you receive very special treatment," said Wentworth, narrowing his eyes in anger.

"Was that a threat, Trev?"

"That sounded like a threat, Twitch."

"Oh dear," said Twitch, shaking his head solemnly, "threatening an Auror is a serious offence, isn't it Trev?"

"That it is, Twitch," nodded Trevor.

"Don't you worry though, my job is to make sure you get to the prison cell in one piece," said Twitch. He pushed Wentworth forward again, this time however he kicked the man's feet out from underneath sending him sprawling to the ground and smacking his face off the stone floor. "Mind you, they didn't say what condition that one piece had to be in."

"Careful there," said Trev, pulling Wentworth up from the floor by the arm. "This floor is very uneven. If you don't watch yourself you might end up falling down again."

"Probably best if you kept your mouth closed and concentrate on keeping your balance instead," advised Twitch. Wentworth didn't reply. Instead he spat out some blood onto the floor. "See? You can listen."

The two men led him down the corridor where they met with a winding staircase. Wentworth sidestepped down slowly so as to prevent himself from falling as if he did he doubted that Twitch or Trevor would do much to help him. At the bottom, the stairs led into a small square room with a short wooden table and a series of little hooks on one of the walls each of which had a large metal key hanging from them. Behind the desk was another corridor which had a series of doors leading to what Wentworth assumed were cells. Sat at the table was a balding man whose other features were indistinguishable as he was hunched over reading from a report on the desk in front of him.

"Prisoner transfer, one one three eight," said Twitch, reading from a docket he had pulled from his pocket, "Ardmore Wentworth."

"Very good, very good," said the man at the desk not looking up. He held a hand out for the docket.

"I thought Tullow was on guard duty today, he's been grumbling about it all week," said Twitch, as the man took the docket from him.

"Ask him yourself," said the man pointing towards the far side of the room.

Twitch and Trevor turned to look at where the man indicated. In the corner there was a man slumped down onto the floor with a look of shock etched onto his face. His eyes were wide open and his skin was pale. There was no mistaking that the man was dead.

"What the bloody hell…" began Twitch but was interrupted before he could finish.

"Avada Kedavra!" shouted the man behind the table. A green flash of light sprung from his wand and hit Trevor in the chest. The man dropped instantly to the floor, his eyes open and his tongue lolling from the corner of his mouth.

Twitch went to aim his wand but Wentworth barrelled into him from the side using his shoulder to push him hard into the wall. He landed heavily and dropped his wand. He went to grab it but Wentworth had already put his foot on the wand to prevent him from retrieving it.

"I'm very sorry about this," said the balding man, sounding genuinely apologetic. He stood up and walked around from behind the table all the while aiming his wand at Twitch.

"You don't have to do this," pleaded Twitch desperately.

"I do if I want her to live," said the man with sadness in his voice.

"Pleas…"

"Avada Kedavra."

"Who are you?" demanded Wentworth slowly backing away. He kept looking towards the stairs, trying to calculate if he could make it if he had to make a break for it. "Are you going to kill me too?"

"No," said the man, scooping up Twitch's wand. "Turn around so I can free you."

Wentworth did as he was ordered and rubbed his wrists where the binding had cut into his skin.

"Here you'll need this," said the man, handing him Twitch's wand. He pointed towards the stairs. "Go back up there, and take the first corridor you come to on your right. Follow it all the way down until you reach a junction. Take another right and then the third door on your left. You'll find a fireplace there that's been temporarily connected to the Floo Network. There should be some powder on the mantelpiece. Use it to get out. I'd recommend Apparating to somewhere else the minute you get out."

"Thank you, friend," said Wentworth, nodding at the man.

"I'm no friend of yours," said the man gruffly. Now that he was looking at him Wentworth could see his face properly. He was younger than his hairline had initially suggested with his face showing few wrinkles or worry lines. His only real feature of note was a red-wine splotched birthmark just under his right eye. He pulled out a folded parchment and held it out. "This is for you too."

Wentworth took the offered parchment, unfolded it and smiled. The writing was completely indecipherable to anyone who didn't possess the Mark of Kai tattoo on their forearm. He read the note quickly and memorised the contents before destroying the paper. He then pushed the sleeve up on his shirt to reveal his tattoo. He gritted his teeth and aimed his wand at his arm. He let out a muffled screech as he cut away the tattoo leaving a large gaping wound in his flesh. He performed a quick spell to stem the bleeding.

"Why?" asked the man who looked aghast at what he had just seen.

"Because apparently they found a way to track us using the Mark," said Wentworth a little lightheaded and woozy from the pain and blood loss. "No doubt that was due to Enoch involvement. I will be most glad when I finally get to kill that man. He has proven time and again to be quite the annoyance."

"Are we done here?" said the man, looking around the room. "I have to clean up this mess."

"Not quite," said Wentworth smiling. The man barely had time to look surprised before the Killing Curse hit him squarely in the face. "Now we are done."


	19. Chapter 19

Once it became apparent that McGonagall had no intention of going back on her decision to keep the end of year exams in place, everyone started to buckle down and start revising. Even Fred and George began studying, although this had more to do with the fact that they didn't really have much option given that they were confined to Gryffindor Tower once the clock struck six in the evening. They had tried to sneak out a few times at the start of the curfew, but after Percy noticed them creeping out from behind the tapestry during one shift change the prefects now did the changeover outside the portrait rather than in the Common Room.

So night after night the twins were confined to the House like every other student at Hogwarts. At first they were happy to play a few rounds of Exploding Snap which generally drew disapproving looks from those in the room trying to do schoolwork, eventually, after a particularly raucous round, Angelina snatched a large portion of the cards out of their hands and threatened to stick them in a rather painful and difficult to reach place. The look she had in her eye at the time meant that neither twin was confident enough to ignore the threat and so ended up joining the rest of their year trying to relearn all they had forgotten since September.

"Do we have to know about the Ogre Wars or the Troll Wars?" asked Lee, flicking through the pages of his book between the two relevant chapters.

"Both," replied Angelina, without looking up. For the last hour or so she had been the oracle on what needed to be studied for their exams.

"Both?" said Lee, lowering his book and looking at the girl. "Seriously? When did we cover both?"

"Ogre Wars at the start of the year and Troll Wars after Christmas," said Angelina with her eyes still focused on her own book. "Maybe if you stayed awake for more that the first few minutes of History of Magic you might remember something."

"I like to think that Binns' words enter into my brain whilst I'm asleep," said Lee, tapping the side of his head.

"And do they?" asked Angelina, finally looking up from her studying.

"That depends…" said Lee, quickly flipping through the pages looking for something, "… was there such a thing as the Unicorn Wars?"

"No."

"Then that was a dream," said Lee, slapping his book shut and shaking his head. "It's a shame, cos I knew that war by heart."

"If you get stuck during the exam just write about it anyway, or just make something up," advised George, twirling his hand in the air. "It's what I did in last years' History of Magic exam."

"And what mark did you get in that?" asked Alicia, turning her head to one side.

"That's not the point," replied George.

"Pretty sure that's exactly the point when it comes to exams," said Angelina.

"Here, Fred," said a sixth year boy who had approached the group without them noticing. "Did you manage to get…?"

"Custard donuts?" said Fred, grinning. He leaned over to one side and picked up a paper-bag filled with half a dozen of the treats. He held them out for the boy.

"Nice one," said the boy taking the bag and dropping a few coins into Fred's hand.

"Pleasure doing business with you," said Fred, sticking the coins into his pocket. "Make sure to tell your friends where you got them from, and remind them that any order needs to be given to us before seven o'clock at night if you want it that evening, otherwise it'll have to wait until the following day."

"How are you even getting the donuts?" asked Angelina. The leaned over to look at the ground next to Fred and saw that there were a number of paper-bags lined up next to each other. "I didn't think you were able to sneak out anymore not since the prefects change shifts in the corridor.

"Maybe I'm extremely skilled at Transfiguration," said Fred coyly.

"Or maybe we have one of the House-Elves Apparate into our Dormitory at seven o'clock each night and we give him our order list to make for the evening," explained George.

"I mean, it's fifty-fifty between those two choices," said Fred.

"So we're all stuck inside after six, the whole school is on high alert, a bunch of people have been attacked, and you two are making money from selling cakes?" said Angelina in an admonishing tone.

"Pretty much," nodded George. He turned the page on his book slowly without meeting her gaze. "Want to order anything?"

"Chocolate muffin, two of them," said Angelina, after a moment of consideration.

"You'll have them tomorrow by eight," said George, taking out a notepad and adding the order to the rest for the following evening.

"How much will I owe you?"

"Nothing," said George, waving a hand dismissively.

"Oh," said Angelina surprised at his generosity, "that's kind of…"

"If you lend me your Charms notes from yesterday," said George.

"Ah… that's more expected," said Angelina. "Fine, you can have the notes but _after_ I get the muffins."

"It's like you don't trust me," complained George.

"I would say I trust you about as far as I could throw you, but since we learnt that Repelling Curse I'm pretty sure I can throw you further," grinned Angelina.

Soon people started headed to bed and the Common Room became less crowded. Eventually it was just the fourth years that remained. Angelina and Alicia were still pouring over their books trying to work out what would likely come up during their exams while George and Lee were messing around with the pieces from a set of Gobstones, a game that was very similar to marbles with the principal difference being that every time a point is conceded, the winning stone squirts a foul-smelling liquid into the loser's face. Fred was busy trying to build himself a tower out of cards, this task was made all the more difficult seeing as he was using his set of Exploding Snap cards which tended to explode far more frequently than a usual pack of the same cards.

"I can't put up with that smell anymore," conceded Angelina as Lee lost another one of his Gobstones. She packed her books away in her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "You coming?"

"Just finishing this chapter," advised Alicia, putting her finger down onto the page so as not to lose her place. "If I don't read it now I'll never pick it up again."

"Fair enough," said Angelina, throwing the strap of her bag over her shoulder. "See you upstairs."

"Okay, okay," said Lee a few minutes later as he wiped his face with his hand. "I give up, you win."

"I don't think anyone really wins at this game," said George, grimacing at the latest smell. "I think I'm going to see if I can wash this off."

"Me too," said Lee, using the tips of his fingers to roll the Gobstones over the edge of the table and into a leather pouch which he then pulled closed. "That last one smelled of sour milk."

"Night guys," said Fred as George and Lee headed off to the boys' bathrooms. He looked over at Alicia who was still engrossed in her book. "What you reading?"

"Elliard's Theory on Transfiguration Properties," said Alicia, frowning. Eventually she put the book down with a frustrated expression on her face. "I've read the chapter about five times now and I still don't get it. I mean if it's supposed to mean what I think it's supposed to mean then it's just basically a badly reworded version of Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. So why do we need to learn it?"

"I think I understood about half of the words in that sentence. Is it something I should have studied?" asked Fred.

"Only if you want to get a good mark in McGonagall's class," replied Alicia. She looked around the room and seemed surprised that it was just her and Fred. "Oh, did everyone else go to bed?"

"Yeah, they gave up on Gobstones in the end," said Fred, waving a hand towards the table where George and Lee had been playing.

"I don't blame them, it's a stupid game. Even if you win you still normally end up smelling like a rubbish bin that's been left out in the sun for a week," said Alicia, putting her books back into her bag. "I mean if it's going to spray you, why not make it a nice smell?"

"Oh, speaking of nice smells, I have something for you actually," said Fred, giving up on his card tower which had just exploded again sending the majority of them cards spilling onto the floor.

"For me?"

"Yep," said Fred, reaching into his bag and pulling out a small white cardboard box.

"What is it?" asked Alicia.

"You could just open it and find out," said Fred, as he gathered up his Exploding Snap cards and placed them carefully back into their box.

"True," said Alicia. She pulled open the box and inside was a slice of cake which had a rainbow pattern going through the middle of it. "Is that… from Madam Puddifoot's? You went into Hogsmeade?"

"Well no, not me," said Fred shrugging. "I got the House-Elf that delivers our cakes to go and pick a slice up for you. I know it's your favourite and we never actually got a chance to go on our date in the end."

"Yeah, although to be fair I couldn't blame you for that," said Alicia.

"Not this time anyway," conceded Fred.

"True, you were on your best behaviour the week before they started the curfew. Which compared to everyone else was still not that good but at least you were trying to avoid detention, and that was something I did appreciate."

"It's really hard to not get in trouble," said Fred. He saw Alicia's raised eyebrow. "For me, it's really hard _for me_ to not get in trouble. I'm sure it's a breeze for goody-two-shoes like you."

"I'm not a goody-two-shoes," replied Alicia.

"Really? How many times have you been in detention?" asked Fred.

"Never…"

"Aha!" said Fred triumphantly pointing at the girl.

"Just because someone hasn't been in detention doesn't make them a goody-two-shoes," complained Alicia, crossing her arms.

"Fine," said Fred, holding his hands up. "What rules have you broken?"

"I have snuck down to the kitchens," said Alicia quickly.

"That time with me? That doesn't count," said Fred, shaking his head. "If we'd been caught everyone would have said I had dragged you into it, which is sort of true but that's not the point."

"Fine, what about the… er…" said Alicia, tapping her finger against her chin as she tried to recall a moment of rule breaking.

"I'm waiting," said Fred, grinning.

"Okay, in Egypt on the school holiday, me and Angelina snuck out and followed you lot to that tomb," said Alicia, pointing at him. "We nearly died because of that. So, that counts as being pretty rebellious."

"Okay, okay," said Fred, nodding his head appreciatively, "that definitely counts as non-goody-two-shoes behaviour."

"Plus there was that time you got me a rainbow cake from Madam Puddifoot's and I could have shared it with you but I ate the whole thing myself," said Alicia, making a point to take a large bite from her cake.

"That's not being bad, that's just being mean," said Fred. He put his hand into his bag and pulled out an identical box which contained his own slice. "Besides, I got my own since you kept going on about how good it was." He took a bite and his eyes opened wide. "Oh my god, that's good," he said, his voice muffled by the contents of his mouth.

"I know, right?" said Alicia with her mouth still full of cake. "It's _so_ good."

"You've got a little something there," said Fred, pointing to the girl's face. She tried to brush her face with the back of her hand. "No, the other side."

"Did I get it?"

"No. You're all over the place. Here," said Fred, leaning forward and brushing his thumb against her bottom lip. Alicia reached up and held his hand for a moment.

"Can't believe it's nearly midnight already," commented Percy coming down the stairs from the boys' dormitory. "Almost time for my shift."

"Is it that late already?" said Alicia, quickly standing up and brushing the cake crumbs off her lap. "I really should be going. I doubt Snape would like it if I was yawning through his class."

"Is that why he is always so mean to me?" said Fred.

"Goodnight, thanks for the cake," said Alicia, stumbling slightly as she picked up her bag and backed away from the couch.

"Night," said Fred.

"Night," said Percy, sitting down next to his brother. "She seems nice."

"You really do have brilliant timing, did you know that?" said Fred, sarcastically.

"Thank you Fred, good time keeping is the sign of a successful person," said Percy, oblivious to his brother's annoyance.

* * *

"Well I have good news, sort-of-good news, and bad news," said Enoch as he sat down in one of the spare chairs in the office.

"I think I can guess the bad news," said Lexington, sitting across from the man. "Wentworth escaped."

"Yep," nodded Enoch. "Four dead at the Ministry. I told them he was dangerous and that they needed to be careful, but did they listen? The Egyptians are hopping mad."

"I'm not surprised," said Lexington. "Losing a prisoner in transport is bad enough without it causing an international incident."

"Can't you track him the same way as last time?" asked Miro.

"No, he cut his tattoo off," said Enoch, making a slicing motion across the skin of his own arm. "When he saw me he must have realised we'd found a way to track them using my tattoo."

"So, what now?" said Miro. "He's completely gone."

"No, he knows you have the book right?" said Enoch, nodding at Lexington.

"Yes, thanks for not mentioning that to the Egyptians. They would have confiscated it for sure."

"Well, that makes attacking you the most likely thing," said Enoch. "Or attacking someone close to you to draw you out. Either way you're a target."

"Could Wentworth be connected to what's going on up at Hogwarts?" asked Miro.

"It's likely connected and that is bad news," said Lexington, drumming his fingers on his desk. "The last attack took place while he was in custody so if it is connected it means that he's working with some else. They probably helped him escape from the Ministry."

"And whoever it is doesn't have a tattoo. Wentworth was the last one we were able to track using that method," said Enoch, tapping his finger on his sleeve above where his own tattoo was inked.

"You said you had good news as well," said Miro.

"Oh yes, I've got the address for Sebastian Walsh," said Enoch, tapping his pocket before pulling out a parchment. "Thanks to Dumbledore's pleas for leniency he was only temporarily locked away in Azkaban for a short time. Instead he was sent to live with a couple; Thomas and Olivia Lysander. Thomas is an Auror and Olivia used to work at St Mungo's as a healer, which is probably why he was sent to live with them."

"An Auror huh? That's good, it'll mean they are more likely to let you talk to the boy if they think it'll help track down the man who killed four members of the Ministry."

"That's what I thought. Gonna head over there tomorrow, hopefully we'll get a lead from it," said Enoch, standing up.

"What about the sort-of-good news?" said Miro.

"Oh, I looked at the list of items needed to perform the ritual in the book," said Enoch. "And there is no way they'd be able to get them together. Most are really rare, and by that I mean there is only one of a few of the things and they are locked up tight in Gringotts or in private collections protected by Godric knows what. Obviously Wentworth couldn't have known what was needed or he would have started collecting all the items by now. Right. I'm off. You two keep your wits about you. Wentworth will want that book and he doesn't strike me as the patient type especially with the Ministry after him."

* * *

The following morning Professor McGonagall made another announcement at breakfast. She stood up at the teachers' table at the far end of the Great Hall and waiting for the gathered students to settle down and be quiet.

"I have good news," she stated which caused all the students to erupt in excitement as they started shouted out their guesses as to what the news could possibly be.

"Dumbledore's coming back!" several people yelled joyfully.

"You've caught the Heir of Slytherin!" squealed a girl at the Ravenclaw table.

"Quidditch matches are back on!" roared Oliver excitedly.

Once the hullabaloo had subsided, Professor McGonagall continued her news, "Professor Sprout had informed me that the Mandrakes are ready for cutting at last. Tonight, we will be able to revive those people who have been Petrified. I need hardly remind you all that one of them may well be able to tell us who, or what, attacked them. I am hopeful that this dreadful year will end with our catching the culprit."

There was an explosion of cheering as everyone absorbed the news.

"Does this mean Quidditch is back on?" shouted Oliver hopefully, but if McGonagall had heard him she chose to ignore the question.

"I had hoped she was going to tell us that the exams were cancelled," admitted Angelina, grabbing some cereal and pouring it into her bowl. "But this is better news."

"I dunno," said George who had just finished his own food and pushed the plate away. "Cancelled exams would have been pretty good. What? Obviously unpetrifying people is a good thing but Sprout was always going to be able to do that. No exams would have been a nice bonus."

"I swear to Godric if that boy gets them to reinstate the Quidditch Cup, I'm going to pummel him. We're busy enough studying without spending time practicing as well," stated Angelina who was looking up at the teachers' table where Oliver was currently making an impassioned request for McGonagall to do just that. Fortunately from the temporary Headmaster's expression it appeared that she held the same view as Angelina on the subject.

"I'm so glad this is will be all over soon," said Alicia. "I've been so worried. My parents were thinking of keeping me home next year if they didn't catch whoever was behind the attacks."

"Mine too," agreed Angelina. "Especially after Dumbledore was suspended, they figured if he couldn't keep us safe then nobody could."

"It'll all be solved tomorrow and this time next year we'll all be laughing about the whole Chamber of Secrets nonsense," said George, which caused the others to look at him sternly. "Okay, maybe not laughing about it but definitely smirking at least, maybe even giggling."

The news that the Mandrakes were ready lifted the mood in the whole school. As they were being escorted to their Potions class by Professor Flitwick the whole year spontaneously broke into a chorus of the school song much to the enjoyment of the Charms teacher who used his wand to help keep the beat like an orchestra conductor. Most of the students had finished the song by the time they had reached their destination and those that hadn't were smart enough not to risk entering Snape's class while singing. Even Fred and George, who tended to act without thinking, stopped their tune before they stepped into the classroom, although both continued to hum for a little bit before Angelina shushed them into silence.

"As final preparation for your exams you are to each _individually_ recreate the Minor Healing Potion detailed on the blackboard behind me. There will be no need to talk and there will certainly be no need to look at each other's progress. I will be getting each of you to test your own Potions yourself so make sure you follow the instructions carefully to prevent any unpleasant side-effects," said Snape coolly once they had all filtered into the room.

The instructions were complicated, especially considering they had never made the potion before or anything similar, but the students pushed on as best as they could. Although the Potions' classroom was usually on the cold side once all of the fires underneath the cauldrons were burning, along with the effort required to keep continually stirring the solution, everyone soon began to feel extremely overheated and sweaty.

"Ugh," complained Angelina, as she wiped the back of her hand across her forehead and it came away slick with sweat. She dried her hand on her skirt.

"Come on, turn clear you stupid git, come on," muttered Lee under his breath as he stirred his potion vigorously.

Looking around the room it seemed to indicate that if the final exam was anything like the lesson then the students were in a tough time. Hardly anyone looked confident as they tried their best to follow the instructions and most people seemed as equally frustrated as Lee. Eventually Snape put them all out of their misery and told them to stop what they were doing and bring a portion of the potion up to his desk for testing.

Nobody was looking forward to the prospect of tasting their own potion and it came as a relief when Snape informed them that one of the side-effects of the potion was that it would make a person's nails instantly grow a couple of inches if they immersed their fingertips in the liquid. They had only managed to test two of the potions before they were interrupted by the magnified sound of Professor McGonagall's voice magically echoing through the corridors.

"All students to return to their House Dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff room. Immediately, please," said the voice in short clipped tones.

"You heard Professor McGonagall," said Snape standing up from behind his desk. He waved his wand and each of the flames under the cauldrons were instantly extinguished. "Back to your Houses. Now."

The atmosphere as the students exited the class was one of quiet, simmering apprehension. Most didn't speak as they made their way back to their Houses and those that did kept their musing to mere murmurs. Several students seemed to think there had been another attack and held their wands out as a precautionary measure.

Inside the Common Room was a crowded hotbed of rumour and gossip.

"They must have caught the culprit," said Dean Thomas, one of the boys from Ron's year.

"Maybe the Mandrakes are ready early," ventured one of the older girls.

"Maybe the Quidd…" began Oliver before being shouted down by the rest of the House. He folded his arms in and leant back in his chair and grumbled to himself quietly.

Harry and Ron were the last two students through the portrait and neither of them looked particularly good.

"You alright?" asked Fred as his brother made his way into the room. "You look a bit pale."

"No," began Ron, "it's…"

"Can I speak to the Weasleys please?" said McGonagall, calling from outside the portrait in the hall.

Fred and George looked at each other then across to Percy who shrugged his shoulders and went to follow them out of the room. George flicked his gaze around the Common Room and realised his sister wasn't there.

"Can someone go and let my sister know McGonagall wants us? She's probably in her room," asked George, pointing in the direction of the girls' Dormitories.

"Yeah, sure," answered Alicia, hurrying off up the stairs.

"No, she's…" said Ron but he tailed off before turning back towards the portrait and hurrying through.

Out in the corridor the four Weasley boys stood in front of McGonagall who, for the first time since they had met her, looked a little shaken.

"Alicia's gone to get Ginny," George advised her, pointing back into Gryffindor House.

"There's been another attack and this time the Heir of Slytherin has taken someone," said McGonagall, trying her best to remain strong.

"Who?" asked Percy warily.

"It's… it's…" said McGonagall, faltering as she tried to say the name.

"Ginny," said Ron flatly. "He's taken Ginny."


	20. Chapter 20

"W-what?" stammered Percy, looking wildly at his brother. "Don't be so stupid Ron."

"Mr Weasley, I'm afraid your brother is correct," said McGonagall solemnly. "There was another message saying someone had been taken and Ginny is the only person unaccounted for. I'm so very sorry."

"What message?" demanded Percy, ignoring the fact he was addressing a member of staff. "What did it say?"

"It said…" began McGonagall, before stumbling over the words, "…it said… ' _Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever._ '"

"I think I'm going to be sick," said George, bracing himself against the wall with a hand.

"The teachers are doing everything they can to locate her," said McGonagall trying to sound reassuring. "But…"

"But you don't even know where to start," said Fred numbly.

"The school has been search numerous times over the years but no one has ever seen any hint of this Chamber… I'm so sorry," said McGonagall choking slightly as she spoke. "I'll have to make an announcement to Gryffindor House. I can wait until you are in your rooms if you would prefer."

"It's fine, just let them know," stated George.

"I'll have to write to mum and dad," said Percy firmly.

"Of course," said McGonagall, resting a hand on his shoulder. "There's an owl already in my office, there's a quill, ink, and parchment on the desk if you wish to write the letter there."

"Yes, I'll do that now," nodded Percy, slowly walking away in a daze.

"Keep an eye on him, make sure he is okay," McGonagall directed this order at a painting that contained a nurse who nodded and briskly moved out of her portrait and followed Percy down the hall by moving between the paintings.

Fred, George, and Ron filtered back into the Common Room, closely followed by McGonagall. Lee looked at the twins expectantly, but neither of them would meet his gaze as the head of their House moved to the middle of the room. Ron made his way over to Harry who had the same defeated look on his face as the Weasleys.

"I'm afraid I have terrible news. There has been another attack and this time a student has been taken," said McGonagall. There was a rippled of gasps and murmurs from the collected Gryffindors.

"Which student?" asked someone. Most people had already guessed and cast a quick sidelong look at Ron and the twins.

"Ginny Weasley," confirmed McGonagall, causing a second ripple a noise from the students.

Fred and George both kept their eyes down but knew a large number of people were now looking over at them.

"In light of this we will be sending all students home first thing in the morning. Breakfast will start at seven and the Hogwarts Express will be here to collect everyone just after eight. Don't worry about packing up your possessions, that will be done by the House-Elves and we will arrange delivery of your things to your homes. Please remain inside Gryffindor Tower until breakfast tomorrow. Dinner tonight will be sent up later," advised McGonagall before carefully making her way out of the portrait.

"You guys alright?" said Lee, slowly approaching Fred and George who had sat down at a table in the corner of the room along with Harry and Ron. "What am I saying? Of course you're not alright. Is there anything I can do?"

"No," said Fred in barely a whisper.

"Where's Percy?" said Lee, looking around the room.

"Writing a letter to mum and dad," explained George.

"Okay… um," began Lee, shifting nervously from one foot to the other.

"Look Lee," said Fred. "I get that you're trying to help but I think we'd just prefer to not talk for a bit."

"Yeah mate, of course," said Lee, he pointed over his shoulder. "I'll just…"

"Cheers," said George softly.

The afternoon dragged on for an eternity. The Common Room was crowded but quiet. Occasionally someone would say something louder than a whisper which would immediately draw dark looks from the rest of the students until they lowered their voice. Every now and then someone, usually from Ginny's year, would let out a faint sob and be comforted by an arm around their shoulder. Percy soon returned from writing the letter and immediately went to shut himself away in his room.

Near sunset Fred and George decided that they couldn't sit downstairs any longer and headed up to bed themselves. As Fred passed by Alicia she looked as though she was about to say something to him but decided at the last minute to remain silent. The twins went into their room which was empty and without saying another word they both lay down on their beds in the dark. They were there about ten minutes before they were joined by Lee who rushed into the room.

"I have some news," he said eagerly and slightly out of breath.

* * *

"Anything?" asked Miro looking up from his desk as Lexington came into the office. The man had spent the afternoon following up on every lead and tapping every resource he could think about.

"Nothing," said Lexington, shaking his head. "I've asked all my contacts, if the Ministry knows where Wentworth is they aren't telling anyone. But I'd say the more likely outcome is that they just genuinely don't have a clue where he has gone. The only reason the Egyptians were able to track him down was because of Enoch and that damn tattoo, but now that isn't possible anymore. He won't be found unless he wants to be found."

"So kind of you to say," said Wentworth's voice echoing slightly.

Miro immediately jumped up from behind the desk and like Lexington had his wand out and was scanning around the room trying to find a target, but this didn't take long since there was only the one way into the room.

"Down here," said Wentworth after a few seconds. His head was partially emerging from the fireplace. Miro instantly aimed his wand at the face. "Careful now, if you attack me then you won't be able to save the girl."

"What girl?" demanded Lexington.

"Just some girl and if you want her to live again you best do as I say," ordered Wentworth grinning evilly.

"Let me guess," said Miro. "You want the book?"

"Well done, with keen observational skills like that I'm sure you were at the very top of your class at school," said Wentworth jovially. His face turned cold. "Now give me the book or the girl dies."

"How do we know you won't just kill her anyway? Or that you even have anyone?" argued Lexington, standing over the fireplace. "Without guarantees for her safety we aren't giving you anything."

"Fine, I didn't think it would be that straightforward," said Wentworth sighing. "We'll meet for an exchange; the girl for the book. You can't say fairer than that."

"Okay. Where?" asked Lexington after a few moments of consideration.

"Hogsmeade," said Wentworth.

"Hogsmeade?" said Miro quickly. "What are you doing there?"

"Does it matter?" replied Wentworth. "South of Hogsmeade there is a road that leads passed the Hog's Head, follow that for about a quarter of a mile and there is an old dirt trail that leads off to one side. Follow that trail and you'll eventually come to…"

"The Eternal Well," interrupted Miro.

"Excellent, so you know it?" said Wentworth. "I'll meet you there an hour after sunset. Bring the book. And don't be late. If I even suspect for a moment you've contacted the Ministry, I'll kill her."

"Damn it," swore Lexington as the man's face disappeared. "Enoch warned us he'd try something like this."

"Wonder who the girl is," said Miro, leaning against his desk.

"Does it matter?" asked Lexington. "Even if it's a complete stranger, which it sounds like, we still have to make sure no harm comes to her."

"True, so what's the plan?"

"We Apparate to Hogsmeade and exchange the book for the girl."

"That's it? We can't just give him the book, I know Enoch said that he doubted Wentworth was able to get all the ingredients for that spell but we can't take the risk can we?" implored Miro.

"We don't have a choice, not where there is a chance that an innocent could be hurt," explained Lexington. "Assuming there is one of course. There's no proof that he's taken anyone, it's possible he just lied to get us to bring the book and he plans on killing us before we realised there is nothing to exchange."

"See? This is why we need a plan," said Miro, tapping his finger on his desk.

"Okay, you're mentioned this well. Have you been there before?" said Lexington.

"The Eternal Well? That's just the nickname it was given by those in Hogsmeade. Supposedly it's a bottomless well. I don't know if it's been enchanted or it's just really deep, but I've thrown a large stone down it before and I never heard it hit the ground. It is supposed to be off limits to anyone from Hogwarts," explained Miro.

"Supposed to be?"

"Rumour is that some student fell down the well two hundred years ago and going near it has been strictly banned since," said Miro. "They don't really enforce it though, it's just a well in the middle of nowhere so it's sort of boring and no one really bothers with it anymore. I doubt half the students even know it exists."

"Well at least that should be there won't be any bystanders wandering by in case the exchange goes wrong," mused Lexington. "But you're right we should probably put a plan together. I don't trust that man to stick to the agreement even if he gets his way."

Miro and Lexington spent the afternoon working out a rough strategy for the exchange. In the end they worked out something that sort of resembled a plan of action which, while they weren't completely happy with, was probably the best they'd be able to manage under the circumstance. They had hoped that Enoch might have contacted them at some point during the day as three against one would have been much better odds for them, but as yet he hadn't dropped in and they had no way of getting hold of him in the meantime.

Unfortunately someone did contact them and confirmed their worst fears.

"Miro?" said a voice coming from the fireplace.

"Yeah?" said Miro, leaning over his desk to get a better view. "Lee? What are you doing?"

"Yeah, I'm borrowing the fireplace in Binns' office. He's still giving a lecture on something even though he doesn't have any students at the moment," explained Lee, looking like he had just checked over his shoulder. "Listen; there's been another attack at the school."

"I hate to say it Lee, but we're dealing with our own thing at the moment. You'll have to leave it to the teachers," said Miro apologetically.

"But they've taken Ginny," said Lee quickly.

"Taken Ginny? Charlie's sister?" said Miro, standing up.

"That would make the girl Enoch's niece?" said Lexington leaning forward in his chair.

"At least we know who he has," said Miro, turning to look at the man.

"Who? You know who has her?" said Lee urgently. "No one here has a clue."

"Ardmore Wentworth, the guy we helped capture. He escaped and he said he took a girl prisoner. I'm assuming he took Ginny because of who she's related to and Wentworth has already shown he is more than happy to attack relatives of Enoch's. The fact he sent a Kosa after those twins is proof of that."

"Prisoner?" said Lee excitedly. "That means she's still alive right?"

"Yeah, we're supposed to exchange her for something," said Miro.

"That's great," exclaimed Lee before realising what he had just said. "I mean it's not great that she's a prisoner but everyone here thinks she's dead. A message was left saying 'her skeleton will stay in the Chamber forever' or something."

"You don't think the well is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets do you?" said Miro, looking between Lee's head in the fireplace and Lexington.

"It would explain why no one ever found it while searching the castle all these years," reasoned Lexington.

"What well?" asked Lee.

"The Eternal Well down in Hogsmeade," said Miro. "It's where the exchange is taking place."

"The Eternal Well? I think I've heard someone mentioned that before. It's just a really deep well though isn't it?" replied Lee.

"Honestly no idea," said Miro, shrugging his shoulders. "We've to meet for the exchange an hour after sunset."

"I'll let Fred and George know," said Lee. His head disappeared from the fireplace.

"What? No!" shouted Lexington. "Come back."

"What?" said Lee as his head appeared again. "Did you say something else?"

"Yes, I said 'no'," stated Lexington firmly, pointing a finger towards the boy. "This is a prisoner exchange with someone I trust less than an old shoe. The last thing we need is anyone else there that could provide him with a target. Plus if he sees anyone he isn't expecting he might do something dangerous. You can tell your friends what's happening but under no circumstances are you to leave Hogwarts. Leave this to me and Miro, do you understand? Our first priority will be to save your friends' sister and we will let you know the instant she is safe."

"Okay, got it," nodded Lee. "Good luck."

The boy's head disappeared from view once again.

"'Trust less than an old shoe?' Is that an actual saying?" asked Miro once they were alone.

"Would you trust an old shoe?" retorted Lexington.

* * *

"Are you sure?" said Fred, sitting up in his bed. Lee had just finished telling them what he had been told by Miro and Lexington.

"Definitely," said Lee, smiling. "Ginny's alive. I mean, she's being held hostage, but at least she's still alive."

"For now," said George, putting on his shoes with some urgency.

"Miro and the other guy are going to make an exchange for her. She'll be fine," said Lee, trying to keep his friends calm.

"There's no way Wentworth is going to let Ginny go, even after he gets what he wants," said George. "We should be there to help."

"What can you do that two ex-Aurors can't?" said Lee, looking at each of the boys in turn.

"We can do something," said George, grabbing his coat from his wardrobe. "We've faced him before and did okay. We defeated a Kosa last year remember?"

"Okay fine," said Lee, heading towards his own wardrobe and starting to pull on his own coat. "They said the meeting was an hour after sunset so we'd better get going."

"You're coming with us?" asked Fred.

"Of course," said Lee, firmly. "She's your sister, that makes her my sister too. I'd do this for anyone in your family, even Percy."

"Okay," nodded Fred. "What's the plan?"

"I'll go ask one of the older students the exact location of this Eternal Well, I'm sure I've heard one of them speaking about it before," advised Lee.

"Perfect. Then we head into Hogsmeade," said George. "If we take one of the tunnels that leaves us outside the village that'll probably be safer, otherwise we'd risk getting spotted by someone."

"Then we go to the well and sneak up on the meeting," added Fred. "If we can attack Wentworth by surprise it'll give us the best chance of saving Ginny."

"Sounds like a plan," said Lee.

"A poorly thought out plan that has plenty of chances to go wrong," admitted George.

"Aren't all our plans like that?" said Fred.

"Yep, and that's good because if we don't have a clue what we are doing, neither will our enemies," said George, tapping the side of his head with his finger.

"That's not that reassuring," said Lee. "Right, I'll head down and find out about the well."

"Okay," nodded George as he left the room. "What about us? Do we have everything we need?"

"I'd be happier if we had a dragon as backup. What about Percy or Ron? Should we tell them?" asked Fred.

"Percy? No," said George, shaking his head. "You know what he is like. He'll probably want to tell the Ministry and they'll only be interested in stopping Wentworth not saving Ginny. Best he doesn't know."

"And Ron?"

"Have you seen his wand?" said George. "It would probably be _more_ dangerous to bring him with us."

"Well that's everything then," said Fred, looking over at his brother. "You ready?"

"No, but that's not going to stop us, is it?"

* * *

Enoch Apparated on the edge of Crillyton where it was dark and he was unlikely to be seen. Although he knew the Lysanders lived in the village he was pretty sure they were the only wizard family that did. Therefore he had to be careful that he didn't expose the wizarding world by performing any magic that a muggle might spot.

He had appeared in a small corn field a short walk from the centre and it didn't take him long to reach the road that the Lysanders lived on, but what greeted him was definitely something he wasn't expecting. There were a number of people standing out on the street and they seemed to be being questioned by official looking individuals. A closer look indicated that the officials were from the Ministry and in fact Enoch recognised a few of them from the Auror department.

"Jenkins?" said Enoch, approaching the nearest Auror.

"Enoch?" said the man in surprised as he turned. "What are you doing here?"

"I was hoping to talk to Thomas and Olivia Lysander. That's their house isn't it?" said Enoch, pointing towards the building that seemed to be the centre of most of the activity. In addition to the Aurors outside there seemed to be quite a few people inside the house as well.

"Yeah, what were you going to talk to them about?" asked Jenkins, he had taken out a notebook and quill.

"They had a young boy staying with them. Sebastian Walsh. I just wanted to talk to him about his family," said Enoch, as Jenkins scribbled the notes. "What's going on?"

"Officially I can't tell you. Ministry business, you see," said Jenkins.

"And unofficially?"

"Well," said Jenkins, putting away the notebook and lowering his voice. "I don't know if you heard about a prisoner outbreak…"

"Ardmore Wentworth," said Enoch. "I heard he escaped transit. Killed four on the way out."

"Well Thomas Lysander was one of the four killed," said Jenkins, nodding towards the house. "So we turn up to give his missus the bad news and guess what we find? The place is smashed up and she's dead as well."

"Seriously?"

"Yep," said Jenkins.

"Killing Curse?"

"That's the thing, no," said Jenkins leaning in close. "As far as we can tell she was poisoned. We brought in some of the healers from St Mungo's to have a look."

"Do you think it was the husband?" asked Enoch, looking over the man's shoulder at the house.

"It couldn't have been," said Jenkins, shaking his head. "Assuming the healers are right about when she died, and we have no reason to doubt them, then it means she died _after_ Thomas did. There's no way he could have done this."

"What about the kid?" said Enoch, casting his eye around the street.

"No sign," said Jenkins darkly. "Like I said, the place was destroyed. Someone put up a bit of a fight. If I was a gambling man, I'd say whoever it was came and killed the woman using poison but didn't expect the kid to be there. The kid walks in on the murder and a fight breaks out and the house gets smashed up. He probably got taken."

"What about the Trace? Any sign of underage magic at the house?"

"That's what I thought, but no we didn't get any reports," said Jenkins.

"He had his wand snapped so he would have only been able to use magic if he'd got the wand off the intruder," reasoned Enoch. "That's probably what happened to the house. Two people fighting over one wand. You got any leads?"

"Nothing at the moment," said Jenkins, he waved a hand towards the bystanders. "We're questioning the muggles and wiping their memories afterwards but so far nothing has turned up. We're monitoring the Trace on the kid, if we're lucky he might get hold of a wand and do some magic but I'm not holding out much hope."

"I can ask around some of my contacts in Knockturn Alley to see if they've heard anything but I've already got them on the lookout for Wentworth and nothing has turned up yet," advised Enoch. "Do you have a photo of Sebastian that I could use? See if anyone recognises him."

"Here take this one," said Jenkins, taking his notebook back out and pulling a black and white picture from between its pages. "I've already shown it to the muggles."

"He got big in two years. I taught him for a year up at Hogwarts," explained Enoch, looking down at the photo that showed the boy with the Lysanders. The adults in the picture were beaming and laughing while the boy looked a little bit shy and awkward. "What's that mark on Thomas' face?"

"Oh yeah, he has a birthmark," said Jenkins, leaning over to look at the photo. "Red, like a wine-stain. Doesn't really show up clearly in black and white."

"Thanks Jenkins," said Enoch. "I'll keep an eye out for him. If I hear anything I'll let you know."

* * *

No one had tried to stop the three boys from leaving the Gryffindor Tower and they were able to make their way through the school to an old storage cupboard on the ground floor unheeded. Inside the storage cupboard they had to tap a tune out on series of wooden panels on the floor with their wands until one of them clicked open to reveal a staircase down into a passageway.

Fred, George, and Lee eventually came out of the secret tunnel from Hogwarts after about half an hour. Although it was easily the fastest of all of the possible passageways between the school and Hogsmeade, they very rarely used it as it left them a good fifteen minutes from village whereas most of the others actually brought them into the centre. This time, however, it was the perfect choice as it came out near to the path that led towards the Hog's Head, all they had to do was double back on themselves a bit and they would be at the Eternal Well in no time.

"Should we be doing this?" asked Lee, as they started down the road.

"It's a bit late to be getting cold feet," said Fred.

"I don't mean the saving Ginny part, I mean the walking this way part," said Lee, pointing down the path. "If we cut through the woods we can come out behind the well. Wentworth is probably only keeping an eye on the main road. Besides, this is probably the route Miro and Lexington are using. If they see us they'll probably send us back to the school or worse just freeze us so we don't interfere."

"That's a good point," said George, scratching his chin. "Okay, we head through the woods and come up behind him, but we've got to be quiet which will be difficult because I can barely see anything at the moment."

"Here, do this," ordered Lee. He took out his wand and pulled his hand back into his sleeve. "Lumos."

The tip of his wand turned into a bright light, but as it was currently being held halfway down his sleeve it only illuminated the part that Lee pointed towards with his arm.

"Brilliant," said George, as he and Fred following suit to create their own rudimentary torches.

"Right," said Fred, pointing towards the woods. "Let's go get our sister."


	21. Chapter 21

Fred, George, and Lee staggered their way through the woods as best as they could given the uneven terrain and limited visibility. In their eagerness to reach the well both of the twins stumbled and fell at different points and had to be helped up by the other two. Lee kept trying to tell them to slow down, but neither would listen.

Suddenly Fred, who was leading the way, pulled up short causing George to nearly bump into his back.

"Little warning next time," complained George, stepping back slightly.

"I think we're here," whispered Fred.

They were stopped in front of a large tree whose trunk was easily the size of Hagrid. Fred pointed ahead of them and George and Lee leaned around the tree to get a better look. About a hundred or so yards in front of them the thick network of trees and bushes gave way to a clearing. They could see that there were a few flaming torches lit but at this distance with too many obstacles in the way they were unable to see much more.

"Let's get closer," advised George. He held up his wand. "Should probably put these out. Nox."

The light from his wand was quickly extinguished, as were Fred and Lee's as they followed his example. Moving slowly, and carefully, to try and avoid making noise, the three boys made their way closer to the clearing. As they reached the edge of the treeline they could now get a clearer picture.

The clearing was quite small, only about thirty feet across with the well located at the centre, and opposite their hiding place on the far side was a narrow pathway that disappeared around the corner and presumably led back to the main road.

There were already people in the clearing. On the path facing them the boys recognised Miro and Lexington who were aiming their wands towards the well where a man stood with his back to their hiding place. There was a thin silvery string-like beam emanating from the man's wand which went up and snaked around a long thick branch that was overhanging the clearing. The beam curled back around the branch and was wrapped around the fourth person's middle and holding them in place over the well itself.

"I don't think that's Ginny," whispered George, after a few moments of watching the scene.

While they couldn't tell much about the fourth person currently being dangled over the hole they could see enough to realise that whoever it was were a good deal taller than Fred and George's sister. The magical rope was tied around their arms holding them in at the waist but they didn't seem to be struggling much, although the boys weren't sure if this was because they were incapacitated or because they were afraid that the rope might break if they did.

"Not short enough for Ginny," agreed Fred, he peered around the clearing. "I can't see her."

"What do we do?" said Lee. "If we attack Wentworth, it'll probably make him drop that person down the well."

"I'd say that's why Miro or Lexington haven't done anything yet," replied George.

"How about we sneak out and grab that person?" said Fred, pointing at the person over the well. "Once they are safe the others will be free to attack without worrying about what will happen to them."

"We'll have to be really careful. If Wentworth sees us he'll just drop them," advised George.

"Lucky for us we're sneaky," replied Fred. "Let's do this."

A quietly as they could, and as quickly as they dared, Fred, George, and Lee made their way out from their hiding place and began to move towards the well.

* * *

"I'm not sure this is going to work," advised Lexington as he and Miro made their way out of Hogsmeade village.

"It's the best we could come up with," replied Miro. "Besides, you always said the best thing in a plan is the element of surprise."

"True," conceded Lexington.

It was dark but with the moon high and bright in the sky and the addition of their lit wands they were able to see clearly enough. The road out of Hogsmeade was winding and potholed but easy enough to navigate and they soon reach the point where a pathway branched off between the trees.

"Keep your eye out for any traps," warned Lexington as they slowly walked down the pathway. It was narrow with trees and bushes on either side that could hide a whole multitude of danger.

The pathway rounded a corner and head of them opened up into a clearing where they found Wentworth waiting for them next to the well. Either side of him were a couple of flaming torches staked into the ground. However, Ginny Weasley wasn't with him.

"Mrs Formby?" exclaimed Miro before remembering to keep his wand aimed at Wentworth.

"She's not really in a talkative mood, well not anymore," said Wentworth, grinning as he looked up at the woman.

"Let her go, Wentworth," ordered Lexington.

"You should really choose your words more carefully," replied Wentworth. He gestured towards his wand where a silver rope was protruding from the end which was wrapped around a branch above his head before coming back down and holding Mrs Formby dangling over the Eternal Well. She also had a cloth gag wrapped around her mouth preventing her from talking. "If I dispel this rope… well… I don't need to draw a picture for you, do I?"

"What do we do?" asked Miro out of the corner of his mouth. "We didn't plan for this."

"Stick to the plan, we'll think of something," said Lexington.

"Now now, speak up," said Wentworth. "I can't hear you when you mumble to each other like that. I'm sure you came up with a very thorough plan to defeat me but needless to say I hold all the cards at the moment."

"We just want her," said Lexington, nodding towards Mrs Formby. He put his hand into his pocket and pulled out the book. "You want this right? It's a simple exchange."

"Merlin's Beard," said Miro under his breath. He tried to keep his lips as still as possible. "Behind him."

Lexington adjusted his eyes to look passed Wentworth and Mrs Formby to the back of the clearing. Emerging from the trees were three figures in dark clothing. They were slowly making their way towards the well.

Miro groaned, and swore quietly, as he realised he recognised the new arrivals, "it's Fred, George, and Lee."

"Come on," said Wentworth loudly. "There's nothing to think about. Just throw the book here and I'll let her go."

"That's what we're afraid of," replied Lexington trying to think fast and hoping to keep the man distracted.

"I mean let her free," said Wentworth.

"Look," said Lexington carefully as he raised his voice, "the only thing we want is to _grab the girl_. That's the only thing we are concerned with. Everything else is unimportant. Just _grab the girl_."

Behind Wentworth Fred gave Lexington a thumbs-up to indicate he understood what had been implied.

"Good, at least we are all on the same page," said Wentworth. He pointed to the floor. "Now, throw your wands down onto the ground."

"How do we know you won't just kill us if we drop our wands?" asked Miro. The three boys were about half way to the well now; they just needed Wentworth distracted a little longer.

"You don't," replied Wentworth. "However if you don't do as I say I will definitely kill Mrs Formby here. Of that you can be sure."

"Okay, okay," said Lexington quickly. He went to put his wand down on the ground directly in front on him.

"No. Throw it to the side; so you can't just pick it straight back up," said Wentworth.

"It's okay, do as he says," advised Lexington. He threw his wand to the right while Miro did the same but to the other side. Lexington held the book up hoping that it would dissuade Wentworth from trying to attack them if he thought he might damage it in some way.

"Very good," said Wentworth, smiling. "It's not a nice feeling is it? Being at the mercy of someone else."

"Although I'm sure you are enjoying it immensely," replied Lexington. He could see that the boys had now reached the well and were hunkered down on the far side so that if he turned Wentworth would not be able to see them. Fred, or George, Lexington couldn't really tell them apart, peered over the side of the stone and caught the man's eye.

"Now throw the book over here," ordered Wentworth, beckoning towards himself.

"Okay," said Lexington, "I'll throw it… right… now!"

Lexington launched the book high in the air towards Wentworth as Fred, George, and Lee quickly stood up and wrapped their arms around Mrs Formby's waist and pulled her towards them. As the book was arching through the air Lexington and Miro each made a dive towards their wands. If everyone else hadn't been so distracted by the various events unfolding they would have wondered why Miro was repeatedly shouting 'pineapples' as he moved.

Wentworth's eyes, which had been firmly following the direction of the book, flashed down to register both Lexington and Miro making a move for their discarded wands. He instantly flicked his wrist and cancelled his rope spell. He heard Mrs Formby start to scream as she dropped, but he was too concerned with the two men in front of him to care.

Wentworth raised his wand and aimed it at Miro who was closest to retrieving his own wand. Wentworth smiled. He'd be able to kill the younger man before turning his attention to Lexington; neither would make it to their wands before he completed his task.

"Avada…"

Wentworth's spell stuck in his throat as he let out a surprised shriek. A grotesque face had suddenly appeared out of nowhere barely two inches from his own and was screaming incoherently at him.

"What?!" exclaimed Wentworth taking a few steps back.

"Arrrrghhh," continued Reg before stopping abruptly. "Sorry, I'm not entirely sure what to do next."

Fortunately the book, which had been lazily arching through the air, finished its journey which resulted in it striking Wentworth on the bridge of his nose. The blow disoriented him even more that the unexpected appearance of Reg and he staggered backwards again. This time he backed into the edge of the well, lost his balance, and fell backwards. He grabbed onto the stone well just in time to prevent himself from falling over the edge, however he was unable to dodge the Stunning Spell that Lexington had just sent his way. The red beam hit him squarely in the chest and sent him tumbling unconsciously over the side of the well and down into the hole.

"It's okay, we've got you," shouted Lee as Mrs Formby's feet still dangled over the side of the well. The three boys carefully pulled her over the stone until her feet were safely on solid ground.

"Thank you, oh thank you," said the woman. She looked around and saw Lexington and Miro approaching. "I am so glad to see you. That horrible man came to my home and grabbed me. Where is he?"

"Fell down the well," said Miro, leaning over the edge and pointing his wand into the darkness. He strained his eyes but couldn't see anything in the darkness even with the light from his wand. "It's bottomless or very deep, either way I think that's the last we'll see of him."

"Good work Reg," said Lexington, he went to pat the ghost on the shoulder but his hand passed straight through him. He turned to look at Miro. "Pineapples?"

"It's the word we agreed on for me to say so that Reg knew when to appear out of the ground," said Miro, pointing at the ghost. "He chose it."

"What?" said Reg as Lexington looked at him. "I like pineapples, not the taste of course. Never had one when I was alive but I've always thought they looked funny."

"What about our sister?" asked Fred. He turned to Mrs Formby. "Our sister? She has red hair like us. Probably wearing a Hogwarts' uniform."

"I'm sorry, I never saw her," said Mrs Formby, shaking her head. "He only grabbed me as far as I know."

"Perfect, just perfect," snapped George.

"It's okay George," said Miro, trying to calm the boy. "We'll head back up to school and Bernard and I will help the teachers look for her. There has to be something for us to find. She can't have just vanished."

"Is this it?" said Mrs Formby reaching down onto the ground and picking up the book. "Is this what he wanted? Is this what my husband died for?"

"Yes," confirmed Lexington.

"Do you need it?" asked Mrs Formby.

"No, although I think it would be best for everyone if it was destroyed," advised Lexington.

"Good, I agreed with that," said Mrs Formby, turning so that she held the book over the well. "I'd like to take a moment to remember my husband before I get rid of this."

"Of course," said Lexington. He beckoned the boys over. "We'll give you some space."

The two men, three boys, and one ghost moved a respectable distance from the well.

"I thought you said he had Ginny," said Fred harshly.

"I thought he did," replied Lee in a distraught voice.

"He just said he had taken the girl," explained Miro. "We all thought he meant Ginny because she'd gone missing."

"So where's Ginny?"

"No idea, but we'll help look," said Lexington firmly. "It turned out what transpired here had nothing to do with what's going on at the school."

"So we wasted a whole night when we could have been looking for her," spat George.

"You helped save a woman's life, that's not a waste," said Lexington, nodding towards Mrs Formby who had now joined them. "Now, let's head back up to the castle as quick as we can and see about finding your sister."

"Will you be okay getting home?" Miro asked Mrs Formby. "You don't have a wand on you, can you Apparate without it?"

"No, I never learnt any wandless magic," advised Mrs Formby. "It's okay I'll head back into the village and use one of the Floos."

"Try the Three Broomsticks, it's normally open quite late into the mornings," advised Lexington, speaking from experience.

The group walked briskly back through the village. There was a light on in the Three Broomsticks and Mrs Formby quickly bade them goodbye and hurried over to the pub, while the rest of them rushed towards the school. They half ran most of the way and were all out of breath as they reached the main doors.

"What's that sound?" asked Lee, taking in large gulps of air.

"It sounds like a party," wheezed Miro, bent over in half with his hands on his knees. He looked over at Lexington. "How are you not exhausted?"

"I run five miles every morning before work," said Lexington, who unlike the rest had barely even broken a sweat. "Don't you?"

"It's the Great Hall," said Lee, as they walked through the front doors of the school.

"Fred! George!" shouted an excited Alicia who had just left the hall and raced over to them once she had seen them. "We've been looking all over for you."

"What's going on?" said George, pointing towards the noise.

"They found Ginny! She's fine!" beamed Alicia.

"They found her?" exclaimed Fred, breaking into a grin. "Where?"

"In the Chamber of Secrets. Harry found the entrance, and he and Ron went down and saved her. I didn't realise your brother was so brave," said Alicia.

"Harry found the Chamber of Secrets? It's real?" asked Miro.

"Oh hi, Miro," said Alicia greeting him. "Yes, he found the Chamber and battled a Basilisk."

"A Basilisk? The Monster of Slytherin was some kind of giant duck?" said Miro cautiously.

"We really need to work on your magical creature knowledge," said Lexington giving his partner a sidelong glance.

"It's a giant snake," said Lee, slapping him on the arm. "Even I know that."

"So Ginny's fine?" asked George.

"Nothing a night in the Infirmary can't fix," said Alicia. "She's up there now resting, and Madam Pomfrey is giving out the Mandrake juice at the moment so everyone should be fine. Dumbledore called for a midnight feast and work everyone up. You three are probably the only ones not in pyjamas other than Harry and Ron of course but they fought a Basilisk. So, what's your excuse?"

"Oh you know us, just the usual sort of night," said Fred.

Lexington and Miro said their goodbyes and headed off into the night. Reg decided that he want to have a quick float around the school as he hadn't seen it for a long time. He immediately bumped into the Fat Friar who threw a hand around his shoulder the minute he found out Reg used to be in Hufflepuff and took him off for a tour of the grounds.

Fred, George, and Lee followed Alicia into the Great Hall and quickly found Harry at the Gryffindor table surrounded by food and covered in dried blood. He almost choked on the scone he was eating when George slapped him on the back and started thanking him for saving his sister.

Everyone was in a partying mood, especially those at the Gryffindor table since, for saving Ginny and defeating the Basilisk, Harry and Ron had been awarded Special Awards for Services to the School along with two hundred points each. This meant that for the second year in a row Gryffindor had won the House Cup.

Fred, George, and Lee sat down across from Alicia and Angelina at the Gryffindor table and started to tell them about their own evening adventures whilst gratefully eating whatever happened to be within reach. Their story was cut slightly short as a large cheer went up from the tables as the four Petrified students returned to the Great Hall completely returned to their normal selves. A smaller cheer went up, mainly from the Gryffindor table, as Nearly Headless Nick floated into the room and waved at the students. A smattering of claps which quickly petered out was started by the first years as Mrs Norris sauntered into the room. Most of the first years turned to ask the older students why they weren't applauding and everyone was swift to point out the reasons for not appreciating the caretaker's cat's return. Not that Filch cared, as he scooped the animal up into his arms and make cooing sounds while he cuddled her, a number of students in his vicinity pushed their plates away as their appetites suddenly disappeared.

At about half three another wave of merriment reverberated around the hall as Hagrid walked in with a wide grin on his face having returned from his confinement at Azkaban. The second loudest cheer of the night came after Dumbledore inform them that Professor Lockhart would not be finishing out the year due to a distinct lack of memory and that the remaining Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons would be converted into free periods for everyone. However, the loudest, longest, and most over the top cheer came when Professor McGonagall announced that the end of year exams had been cancelled. It was, generally agreed all around, the best feast that had been since in the Great Hall for many a year.

* * *

"Well, that was certainly a turn up for the books," said Lexington as he and Miro Apparated outside their office in Knockturn Alley.

"Bad guy defeated, damsel undistressed, resurrection of untold evil stopped," said Miro as he pushed opened the door. "To be honest, we've had worse days."

"I think I'll be breaking out the warlock-brandy for a quick drink before bed," advised Lexington. "You should join me. It'll put hairs on your chest."

"I already have hairs on my chest, at least five of them last time I check…" Miro's voice tailed off as they reached the top of the stairs. He slowly took out his wand and nodded towards the office door which was slightly ajar.

Lexington did likewise and they both stood either side of the door with their wands raised for a moment. Miro silently counted to three and the two men burst inside ready to attack.

"Bloody hell," exclaimed Enoch as the door slammed open. He had been snoozing softly in one of the armchairs whilst resting his feet on a desk.

"Enoch?" sighed Lexington, putting his wand away. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I wanted to give you an update and I was rather tired so I thought I'd kill two gnomes with one spell," said Enoch, letting out a yawn.

"You could have just left us a note and gone to bed," said Miro. He ushered Enoch's feet off of his desk. "You're only staying at the Leaky Cauldron right?"

"Ah well, see me and Tom had a bit of disagreement over a bar bill," explained Enoch. "So, I'm sort of avoiding the Leaky Cauldron at the moment."

"I'm surprised to see you here at all," said Lexington. He opened one of the drawers on his desk and pulled out a dusty bottle and three slightly less dusty glasses.

"How come?" said Enoch, his eyes lighting up at the sight of the bottle.

"Because of Ginny," said Miro, sitting down at his desk. Enoch just gave him a blank look. "You did know about her? Didn't you?"

"What about her?" asked Enoch urgently, looking between Miro and Lexington.

"Firstly, she's fine, all safe and sound," said Lexington quickly to dispel any fears. "But she was taken by the Heir of Slytherin into the Chamber of Secrets."

"What?!" exclaimed Enoch.

"We originally thought that Wentworth had taken her," said Lexington, handing Enoch a glass with a generous portion of drink, "but he had actually kidnapped Mrs Formby. It's fine, she's fine. He wanted us to bring him the book in exchange for her but we were able to subdue him."

"With Fred and George's help of course," said Miro, taking his own glass. He sniffed the contents and wrinkled his nose at the strong flavour.

"Why am I not surprised?" said Enoch, shaking his head. "How did they get involved?"

"They thought Wentworth had kidnapped Ginny as well so went in search of her," said Lexington.

"Where's Wentworth now?" asked Enoch, taking a sip.

"Normally I'd assume he was dead, but he's a tricky fellow," said Lexington, leaning back on his chair. "He fell into the Eternal Well at Hogsmeade. We stunned him just as he went in but if it _is_ a bottomless pit then technically he could Apparate out on the way down."

"Tricky git," spat Enoch. "What about the book?"

"Mrs Formby threw it down the well," said Miro.

"Well, at least there'll be no way to retrieve it," sighed Enoch.

"What about you? You mentioned something about an update?" asked Lexington.

"Oh yes," said Enoch, leaning forward and placing his glass down onto the desk. "I went to the Lysanders' house to see if I could speak to Sebastian. He wasn't there. Olivia had been poisoned and it looked like there had been a struggle."

"Poisoned? I'm assuming they took the husband into custody for questioning?" said Lexington.

"Couldn't," said Enoch, shaking his head. "He was one of the guards killed by Wentworth during his escape. And Olivia was poisoned _after_ Thomas was killed."

"So Wentworth killed Thomas, then poisoned Olivia, and kidnapped Sebastian?" said Miro uncertainly. "Why?"

"Maybe Sebastian knew something about him," reasoned Enoch.

"But poison?" said Lexington frowning. "It just doesn't seem like Wentworth's style. And where's the boy?"

"No idea, but I don't hold out much hope at this stage," said Enoch, looking glum. "It's a shame too. From the sound of it he had a pretty miserable life until he got away from his mother."

"Well I guess that makes something else to add to the list of things I'm going to make Ardmore Wentworth pay for if I ever catch him," said Lexington darkly.

"There are two Ministries looking for him," advised Enoch. "There aren't many rocks he can hide under."

"What about the Lysanders?" asked Miro. "They got any family?"

"No, just each other, and then Sebastian," said Enoch, he pulled the photo from his inside pocket and handed it to Miro. "For what it's worth, they looked happy together."

"Er… Bernard?" said Miro, looking at the photo for a few seconds. He handed it over to his partner who frowned for a moment before swearing under his breath.

"What's wrong?" asked Enoch slowly.

"This woman, are you sure it's Olivia Lysander?" asked Lexington, tapping the photo.

"Yes, got it from an Auror investigating the house. Jenkins," said Enoch.

"Ah yes, he's a straight up man. No reason to doubt him," said Lexington. He held up the photo. "This woman is Elizabeth Formby, the one who hired us to find her husband."

"Her husband? As in Thomas Lysander?" said Enoch.

"No, a completely different person, worked for Gringotts," said Lexington.

"They could be sisters; twins," said Miro.

"No, I checked into Olivia," said Enoch, shaking his head. "She was an only child."

"They have to be the same person," stated Lexington. "Elizabeth Formby started all of this by getting us to look for her husband, because of that we found that book, a book which Wentworth wanted and was prepared to kill for. Then he escapes and kills Thomas Lysander, who just so happens to have been the guardian of the only other member of the Sect of Kai that we know about, and is married to Olivia, who is in actual fact Elizabeth Formby."

"But you said that Olivia had been killed," said Miro, pointing at Enoch. "We've seen Mrs Formby within the last hour. There has to be two of them."

"Olivia is definitely dead," said Enoch, grimly. "I saw the body myself when they were bringing her out. There's no faking that."

"Just what the hell is going on?" muttered Lexington, looking at the photo thoughtfully as he sipped his drink.

* * *

Wentworth groggily opened his eyes. It made no difference, everything was still black. There was a loud rushing sound like a waterfall all around him. He reached out a hand and suddenly pain shot through his fingertips as they scrapped off something in the dark.

 _That's not water I hear, it's air. I'm falling_ – realised Wentworth as he gradually got his bearings. He tried to work through the last thing he could remember. A hideous face. Stumbling backwards. A sudden red flash.

"Stunned," muttered Wentworth, the words lost in the wind which whipped around his body.

 _Must have fallen into the well_ – he thought. He was bleeding all over, and bruised too. _Probably scraped myself off the stones._

Wentworth let out a laugh. He didn't have his wand but he was capable of Apparating without it. _Those fools thought they had seen that last of…_ his thought was cut short given that the Eternal Well was not in fact bottomless; it was just very deep.


	22. Chapter 22

The feast in the Great Hall went on for most of the night and into the early hours of the morning. Fred, George, and Lee were amongst the last to leave and the barest streams of sunlight were beginning to creep over the horizon as they crawled into their beds. Fortunately, lessons for the day had been cancelled since Dumbledore didn't think it would be fair for his teachers to have to try and deal with half-asleep students, so the boys were able to enjoy an entire morning of doing absolutely nothing other than stay in their beds. By the time they emerged from their slumber it was already lunch time so they headed straight down to the Great Hall where they found it half empty.

"Where is everyone?" asked Fred, sitting down next to Alicia.

"Most people slept in and then had a late breakfast," explained Alicia, looking around the room. "Dumbledore said he expected most people to be up later than normal so he instructed the House-Elves to keep serving breakfast until about eleven and I'm guessing those that filled up then are still too full for lunch."

"What time did you three come up in the end?" asked Angelina.

"I have no idea but it was starting to get light and Lee had already fallen asleep at the table a few times," answered George, pointing at his friend.

"I would deny it but I think Colin Creevy took a photo," said Lee.

"The first year who was Petrified?" said Angelina.

"Yeah, Colin, Hermione, and the other two only headed to bed just before us," nodded Lee. "Turns out when you're Petrified for a few months you tend to be wide awake when they revive you."

"Hmm, maybe we should get Petrified each night before bed," ventured George.

"Don't be so silly," said Fred, shaking his head as he began to pile food onto his plate. "I mean where would we get a Basilisk from in the first place?"

"I'm sure Hagrid would know a man who knew a man," replied George.

"Oh, looks like someone isn't happy," said Lee, looking over at the teachers' table.

The group turned to see what he was looking at and saw that Professor McGonagall and Oliver Wood seemed to be having a rather heated discussion. They couldn't make out what was being said but it finished with McGonagall firmly gesturing that Oliver should leave her alone unless he was in the mood to be punished.

"Good news Oliver?" asked Fred, jovially as the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain stomped along the gap between the House tables.

"Would you believe that Professor McGonagall won't allow us to play the remaining Quidditch matches before the end of term?" snorted Oliver furiously. He was holding a long piece of parchment which had been rolled up.

"There's only three weeks until we go back on the Hogwarts' Express," said Angelina, reminding him.

"That's exactly what I told her. Three weeks. Plenty of time to play the remaining games. I'm glad you think so too," said Oliver, looking delighted.

"I didn't say…" began Angelina.

"I mean we've already played one game each so we only need another three matches total for the Cup to be completed," said Oliver excitedly.

"And I take it she's not going for that idea?" said Alicia.

"No she didn't," said Oliver frowning. He lightened up quickly though. "However, I did come up with a plan. See, McGonagall said that apart from the remaining classes all the extra school stuff, like exams or Quidditch, had been cancelled. So I'm thinking I can start some sort of petition and get everyone to sign it and then McGonagall will have no option but to allow the Quidditch matches to be played."

"A petition?" said Angelina.

"Yes, see?" said Oliver, handing the girl the parchment which she partially unravelled. "I've already signed it."

"Er… Oliver I can't help notice that this petition is to reinstate the Quidditch Cup _and_ the exams," said Angelina, reading the top of the parchment.

"Oh yes, don't worry about that," said Oliver quickly. "McGonagall said that both the exams and Quidditch had been cancelled and that she couldn't really bring one back without the other."

"So she said she'd bring Quidditch back, but only if the exams were back on as well?" asked Fred slowly.

"More or less," nodded Oliver. "I mean there were a lot of words but I'm pretty sure that was the gist of it. Have any of you notice just how much she tuts when she's talking to you?"

"No," said Alicia and Angelina together.

"Yes," said Fred, George, and Lee in unison.

"Oh, maybe it's just a boy girl thing," said Oliver. "So… do you five want to be the first people to sign my petition? It would look good if people could see the whole team on it, and obviously Lee as the match commentator your name would carry a lot of weight too."

"Let me get this straight," said Angelina, trying her best to keep a level tone. "You want us to sign a petition that is asking for the exams to be reintroduced? And you plan on bringing this petition around the school to show everyone that we signed it?"

"Yes, well the exam thing is more of an extra thing to keep McGonagall happy," explained Oliver. "It's mainly for the Quidditch."

"Oliver, you are our Captain, and more importantly you are our friend, and I think I speak for everyone here, as well as the rest of Gryffindor House, when I say…" Instead of finishing her sentence Angelina quickly crumpled the parchment into a ball and launched it over her shoulder where it bounced under the Slytherin table.

"Miss Johnson!" barked McGonagall tersely from the teachers' table. Angelina's response was to gesture towards Oliver whilst pulling an exasperated expression. Apparently this was enough to convey her message as McGonagall just nodded in sympathy and continued on with her meal.

"So you don't want to play?" said Oliver, looking crestfallen.

"Look Oliver, it's been a tough year for everyone," said Alicia kindly. "What with the attacks and Dumbledore being suspended and everything, so having no exams is a good thing and it's something that everyone wants. So just accept there is no more Quidditch this year and take it easy for the next couple of weeks."

"It's just that we had a really good chance this year," said Oliver.

"I know but think of it this way. You can have an extra three weeks working on your team plans for next year," said Alicia.

"Oh? Oh! You're right," said Oliver, breaking into a smile. "An extra three weeks of planning, plus I'm sure I'll be able to access some good books on Quidditch from the library."

"See? It's a good thing," said Alicia.

"I'll work out a whole new training regime for next year," said Oliver excitedly. "There'll be no excuse this time. I have to go and start writing ideas down."

"Bye Oliver," said the group.

"Angelina," said Oliver, turning back quickly. "Have you been practicing shooting blindly behind your back? Cos that shot was pretty good, you should do that during games. Anyway, I'll see you later; I have so much to plan."

After the extra day of rest the students fell back into their usual class schedules, however as the exams had been cancelled each lesson was now much more relaxed than customary. The only exceptions were Potions and History of Magic; Snape had no interest in changing his normal teaching methods while Binns had barely registered anything that had happened over the previous school year. As Lockhart was no longer at the school the students were given free periods where they would normally have Defence Against the Dark Arts. In addition, third year students and above were allowed into Hogsmeade on the final weekend before the end of term.

"They should let us do this every weekend," said Fred as they walked into Hogsmeade. The village was packed as pretty much every student who was allowed had taken advantage of the final visit to pick up some souvenirs for home or to just get out of Hogwarts for a few hours. Usually at most only two year groups were allowed into the village at one time.

"I doubt the villagers would be too happy with that," commented Angelina, as they stepped around a group of fifth years who had abruptly stopped in the middle of the street.

"Come on," said Alicia, grabbing hold of Angelina's hand, "over to Gladrags', they have these lovely cloaks I want to try on. You three coming?"

"I think we'll pass," said George looking at the other two for confirmation. He pointed towards the Three Broomsticks. "Gonna have a last Butterbeer or three."

"We'll meet you in there later," called Angelina as she was dragged away.

The three boys made their way through the front doors of the pub and that was about as far as they could go. The whole place was standing room only as row upon row of students lined up at the bar trying to order drinks. There were a few people who had managed to find a place to sit at one of the tables dotted around the room but they were squashed together tightly on stools or benches that it made drinking practically impossible without the threat of being jostled and spilling liquid everywhere. Madam Rosmerta looked run off her feet as she hurried back and forth trying to serve as many people as she could all on her own.

Through much pushing, arguing, and a fair bit of swearing, the boys managed to eventually force themselves to the far side of the bar.

"You need help?" shouted George to Madam Rosmerta when she came into earshot.

"Do you know how?" she replied as she served a group of sixth years a round of Gillywater.

"They tell you want they want, you give them what they want, they give you money, and you give them change. That's about it, right?" said George.

"Fine, it's not like I have anyone else offering," said Rosmerta after a moment. She pointed a finger at George. "You pay for any breakages though."

"Sure," said George, ducking under a portion of the countertop quickly followed by Fred and Lee.

"I didn't mean all three…" began Rosmerta before shrugging her shoulders. "You know what? It doesn't matter. Just get them served."

"Right now, what are you having?" said George, rubbing his hands together and addressing the person in front of him.

"A cherry syrup and soda with ice," said the girl. "Oh and an umbrella."

"Er…" George turned around and looked at the drinks behind him for a few seconds before turning back. "How about a Butterbeer?"

"I want a cherry syrup and soda with ice," repeated the girl firmly.

"Okay, okay," said George. He eventually located the soda and cherry syrup and poured them both into one glass before tipping some of it out into the sink when he remembered he needed to add ice. "Here you go. Oh wait, and an umbrella."

"Thank you," said the girl, handing her money over. She took one sip and grimaced. "It's too sweet."

"Yeah I know, it's half syrup what do you expect?" said George shrugging.

"You're only supposed to put about that much syrup in," said the girl holding her finger and thumb up with a small gap between them.

"Oh, that makes more sense, hang on," he scooped up the drink and dumped the contents into the sink before remixing a fresh one and handing it back to the girl. She tentatively took another sip. "Better?"

"Much," nodded the girl.

It took the three boys and Rosmerta about an hour or so to make a dent in the crowd of customers. The main issue was that once someone was served their drinks they didn't actually have any room to sit down and enjoy it. This was solved when Fred suggested that Rosmerta turn the courtyard at the back of the pub into a rudimentary outside seating area. Old barrels were swiftly turned on their sides to become makeshift tables while Rosmerta transfigured some crates into benches. Soon there were more people seated outside than in as they wanted to take advantage of the warm sun.

"Here you go," said Rosmerta, popping open three Butterbeers and handing them to the boys. "Thanks for that, I don't know how I would have coped otherwise."

"Where's the barmaid?" asked Lee, taking a glug from his bottle.

"Up visiting her family in London," said Rosmerta. "Didn't think I'd need her since Hogwarts' students don't normally visit the village this late in the year."

"I think it's a once off," replied Fred. He tried to say something else but he had started hiccupping after he took a drink.

"Cos of the whole Chamber of Secrets thing," said George, finishing the sentence for his brother.

"Oh yes of course," said Rosmerta. "The whole village has been talking about it. It was your sister that was taken wasn't it?"

"Yep… hic…Ginny," confirmed Fred before taking a deep breath and holding it.

"Harry saved her," said Lee.

"Harry Potter? He'd be a second year now, right?" said Rosmerta. "I guess I'll meet him next year when they get their visits to the village. My niece will be delighted; Harry Potter mad she is."

"You should introduce her to Ginny," said George. "They could start a fan club."

"Er… are you lot working here now?" asked Angelina who had just stepping through the front door along with Alicia.

"Yeah, what can we get you?" asked George, throwing a cloth over his shoulder and leaning against the bar.

"Gillywater for me," said Angelina before turning to her friend.

"Same," nodded Alicia. She looked around the room which was still quite busy but nowhere near as crowded as it had been earlier. "Where is everyone? They said it was packed in here."

"They're out the back," said Lee, pointing over his shoulder.

"Madam Rosmerta made an outside area for everyone to sit," explained George, putting the girl's drink down in front of her.

"Smart," said Angelina as she took as sip from her drink.

"I'm glad you think so," said Rosmerta. She pointed towards a spare table in the corner of the room. "Thanks for the help boys I can take it from here if you want to go and sit down."

"No problem," said Fred, grabbing hold of his drink and ducking back under the counter.

"You know," said George, as they all sat down together, "I reckon I'd make a good barman."

"If that guy over at the Hog's Head can do it then I'm pretty sure it's not that difficult," said Alicia, referring to the unfriendly man that ran the only other pub in Hogsmeade.

"Oh yeah? How would you made a cherry syrup and soda?" challenged George.

"I dunno," said Alicia, shrugging. She held her finger and thumb up. "About that much syrup and then fill the rest up with soda and ice. Oh and an umbrella too."

"So it was just me who didn't know about the whole not pouring it half and half?" said George looking around.

"It's pretty obvious," said Angelina.

The group chatted for a while as they finished their drinks, mainly talking about their plans for the summer holidays. Alicia and Angelina lived close enough to each other that they would be able to meet up during the break while Lee was going abroad to visit his mother's family for an extended period. Fred and George said they were probably staying at home for most of the summer since their father's job usually kept him quite busy and so far their mother hadn't been brave, or foolhardy, enough to want to try and bring the twins on holiday on her own.

"We should be finishing up," said Angelina, casting her eyes over towards a large grandfather clock that stood on one wall. "McGonagall will be rounding up everyone left in Hogsmeade for the walk back in a bit."

"What?" said Fred, turning to look at the clock. "Is that the time?"

"Yeah."

"Quick," he said jumping up and holding a hand out towards Alicia.

"Where are we going?" asked Lee.

"Not you, just me and Alicia," said Fred. He twirled his hand impatiently. "Will you come on?"

"To where?" asked Alicia, taking his hand.

"This way," he said dragging her up out of the seat and towards the door. "We'll see you guys on the way back."

"Seriously, where are we going?" said Alicia as they exited the Three Broomsticks and made their way across the street.

"We're going… oh, sorry," said Fred as he almost knocked over a little old lady, "we're going on our date."

"Madam Puddifoot's?" said Alicia, looking at the shop she had just been towed towards. "It's closing."

"It's not closing… oh wait, it is. No, no, no," said Fred, quickly tapping on the door. Madam Puddifoot was just standing the other side of it having just turned the sign around to read 'closed'.

"I'm sorry dear," she said opening the door slightly. "I've just closed."

"You can't close, well I mean you can but can you just stay open for five minutes," said Fred quickly spitting the words out as fast as he could whilst remaining coherent. He pointed towards Alicia. "I've asked her out twice now and for some reason, and I have no idea why, but anyway both times she said yes, but when it came time for our date something came up that completely wasn't my fault. Okay, the first time was my fault because I got detention, but the second time was absolutely not my fault, but this is the last chance that we'll get before the end of school to go on our date. So, can you please, please stay open for just five minutes so we can have a small piece of cake together?"

Madam Puddifoot looked at Fred, then at Alicia, then back to Fred.

"Just five minutes?" she said.

"Just five minutes and a small piece of cake, the one that looks like rainbows on the inside; it's her favourite," said Fred.

"Just this once," said Madam Puddifoot kindly. She opened the door and pointed towards a nearby table for them to use.

"It's not really much of a date if it only lasts five minutes," advised Alicia as Madam Puddifoot put down a small plate in front of them containing four dainty squares of cake.

"It'll still be the best date we've had all year," replied Fred.

"That's true," nodded Alicia, picking up one of the pieces of cake and popping it into her mouth. "Yum, so good."

"So, now what?" said Fred after doing likewise.

"Is this your first ever date?" asked Alicia, raising her eyebrows.

"Of course not, I've been on loads of dates, hundreds in fact," said Fred. "But let's just say it was my first ever date, what would usually happen?"

"Why are you asking me?" replied Alicia.

"Because you're here, I'd ask Puddifoot but that might be weird."

"Well I don't really know, I've only ever been on one date, and I didn't even realise it was supposed to be a date until after it was over," said Alicia shrugging.

"How did you not realise it was a date? Did you fall asleep?"

"Remember when we were supposed to go on a date the first time?"

"And I ended up in detention? It rings a bell," said Fred. "I did say sorry for that, didn't I?"

"Yes you did. Anyway I came in here while Angelina was off getting a new quill and sat down at a table. After a few minutes in came Rupert Cahir."

"Okay," said Fred slowly.

"What?"

"I didn't say anything," said Fred, holding his hands up.

"Yes you did, you said 'okay'," said Alicia, mimicking the same manner in which he had said the word.

"Fine, I just meant you could do better than Rupert."

"Like you, you mean?"

"Oh, you could easily do better than me. I'm just glad you didn't realise that before you said yes to a date," admitted Fred. "But I'm pretty sure at the very least I'm better than Rupert."

"True, I'll agree with that," nodded Alicia. "He spent the entire time telling me how great he was at this thing or that thing and that how his father had a really important muggle job. I don't think he once asked me about myself."

"So… er… what are you great at? Other than Quidditch," said Fred.

"Nice save," said Alicia. "So Angelina arrives after about half an hour and Rupert gets up, shakes my hand, and said it had been a great date and we should do it again sometime. And that is the story of my first date."

"That's nothing. On my first date, all the girl did was talk about the last date she went on," said Fred, picking up his second piece of cake and eating it in one bite.

"Oh, did she now?" asked Alicia, doing the same with her cake as she smirked. "How rude."

"Ah I didn't mind," said Fred, waving a hand dismissively. "She had a nice voice to listen to."

"Really?" said Alicia smiling. "And what else was nice about her?"

"Her smile, plus she's funny, and smart, and really good at Quidditch," said Fred.

"Well, that is an important skill to have."

"I'm talking about you, you do know that right?"

"I think I got that," nodded Alicia.

"Good."

"I'm sorry dears, but I really do have to close the shop," said Madam Puddifoot apologetically from behind the counter.

"That's okay," said Alicia, standing up. "Thank you."

"Anytime dears," said Madam Puddifoot guiding them towards the door.

Outside in the village square they found Professor McGonagall had already corralled a large number of students ready to make the journey back to the school while Professors Flitwick and Sprout were popping in and out of each shop trying to find stragglers.

"Where did you two go to?" asked Angelina who had been waiting with George and Lee towards the edge of the group of students.

"Er… well…" said Alicia, looking over at Fred.

"We had our date," said Fred, grinning.

"A date?" said Angelina, raising one of her eyebrows quizzically. "And that went okay did it?"

"I can honestly say it was the best date I've even been on," replied Fred.

"It easily made it into my top two," conceded Alicia.

"It could only have lasted seven minutes at most," said Angelina. "Does that even count as a date?"

"Of course it does, there was cake," replied Fred. "Besides, it was probably a good thing it was only short. The longer it went on the more likely I would say something stupid to ruin it."

"I don't think anyone is going to argue with you on that," said Angelina. "But I'm still not sure it counts."

The last few days in the school flew by and soon the students were boarding the train back to London. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny got a compartment to themselves and spent their time making the most of the last few hours in which they were allowed to do magic before the holidays. They played Exploding Snap, set off the very last of the twins' Filibuster Fireworks and practiced disarming each other by magic. Fred and George hated to admit it but, despite being two years younger, Harry seemed to be the best at it.

Halfway through the journey the twins went up to the first carriage to try and visit Lee but were ushered away by Percy. As they had made their way down the Great Staircase to leave for the station Lee had thought it was a good idea to try and slide down one of the bannisters, unfortunately he had miscalculated his landing and ended knocking a rare old painting off the wall and damaging it badly. The worst part was that this happened directly in front of McGonagall who placed him in detention, but since school had finished she decided that as a punishment he would have to sit in the Prefects' Carriage for the journey home.

They were nearly at King's Cross when Harry turned to Ginny.

"Ginny, what did you see Percy doing, that he didn't want you to tell anyway?"

"Oh, that," said Ginny, giggling. "Well, Percy's got a girlfriend." Fred dropped a stack of books on George's head.

"What?" said Fred, who had completely forgotten that his older brother had a girlfriend with an unknown identity.

"It's that Ravenclaw Prefect, Penelope Clearwater," said Ginny. "That's who he was writing to all last summer. He's been meeting her all over the school in secret. I walked in on them kissing in an empty classroom one day. He was so upset when she was… you know… attacked. You won't tease him, will you?" she added anxiously.

"Wouldn't dream of it," said Fred, grinning.

"Definitely not," said George, sniggering.

"Don't know why you're smiling," said Ron, pointing at Fred. "Aren't you going out with Alicia Spinnet?"

"It's not the fact that he has a girlfriend it's the fact that he doesn't want us to know," said Fred. "Besides we knew he had a girlfriend, we just didn't know who."

"If he was upfront about it then we wouldn't tease him but because he wanted to keep it a secret means… well… let's just a lot of teasing is going to take place this summer," said George.

"So no change there then?" said Ron.

"Would you rather we teased you instead?" asked Fred.

Ron thought about this for a moment before sticking his fist into the air. "To the summer of teasing Percy."

"The summer of teasing Percy," said Fred and George in unison whilst mimicking their brother's gesture.

* * *

Mrs Formby placed her bag down onto the bed and undid the clasps before lifting the lid. Inside were a few changes of shirts and trousers. On top of the clothes were a small cauldron and several leather pouches that contained various strange smelling ingredients.

She looked at the front page of the Daily Prophet which she had picked up just before leaving the wizarding world and heading out into the muggle one. There was a picture of Thomas and Olivia Lysander along with Sebastian Walsh under the headline 'Murdered and Kidnapped'.

"Shame," she said, taking out a bottle from her pocket and uncorking it. She poured the contents down the sink in the room and waited patiently for twenty minutes, lazily turning the pages of the newspaper as time ticked by slowly. Eventually she stood up and walked over to the sink again and looked into the mirror above the taps.

She watched as her long red hair turned dark brown and gradually shortened until it was just above her ears. Her nose elongated slightly whilst becoming fatter at the nostrils. Her blue eyes faded away and began light hazel while she lost about an inch or so in overall height. The transformation took about two minutes to be complete.

Sebastian Walsh turned his head from one side to another. It was still strange seeing his own face after each time the Polyjuice potion wore off. He started to change into his usual clothes and his eyes were drawn to the front page of the Daily Prophet. He felt a flicker of guilt as he looked at the image of Thomas and Olivia Lysander. They had been kind people who had taken him in when no one else would, but once Wentworth had been captured it was the only way to free him, there were too many obstacles in place that would have prevented Sebastian from using the Polyjuice potion to impersonate Thomas and gain access to the Ministry's holding cells himself.

 _Wentworth,_ thought Sebastian, shaking his head _. So impatient._

The initial plan had been simple. Get Formby to bring the book in from Egypt, but the Gringott's employee had become greedy and asked for more money and Wentworth had killed him before locating the book. So Sebastian had come up with a plan to get the Wizarding Detective Agency involved, Bernard Lexington had been a formidable Auror and if anyone could find out where Formby had hidden something it was him.

Sebastian had waited at their rendezvous for Wentworth to arrive after they were separated, but the Eternal Well either prevented Apparition or he had died during his fall as he never turned up within the agreed time. Not that the boy particularly cared, after all the man had tried to drop him down the well when he dispelled the rope holding him over the opening.

His mother died in Azkaban almost a year ago and with Wentworth gone as well, Sebastian was now the last surviving member of the Sect of Kai. And worst was that although he had picked up Wentworth's wand from the ground he couldn't use it as he was underage and any spell he used would set off the Trace placed upon him until he was seventeen. He had to continue to rely on potions only; luckily he had become quite adept at making them.

"Still," said Sebastian, reaching into his bag and pulling out the book which Lexington thought he had thrown into the well, "all is not lost."


End file.
